By Andy Choi
Hardware manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group plans to replace human workers with robots. The Taiwanese company, one of the world's largest maker of electronic components including printed circuit boards, makes many consumer electronic gadgets at its huge factories in China.
The company manufactures iPads, iPhones and Androed tablets amongst other electrical goods for Apple, Hewlett Packard, Dell and Sony. They now intend to use one million robots to improve efficiency and combat rising labor costs by the year 2014 as per Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company.
Foxconn presently employs 1.2 million people and it is not yet known how many of these will be replaced by the robots. However the human layoffs are not being welcomed at the company’s factory in Shenzhen.
Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Precision Industries has been repeatedly accused of forcing employees to work long hours for low pay under stressful conditions. While employing more robots will lead to less humans getting depressed, it is yet to be seen how the robot population increase will affect the company’s image.