In the middle of the constant discussions regarding the move of iPhone production from China to the USA, here is the first clear information about the complexity of such a change. Apple has many Asian partners that it relies on to manufacture the iPhone terminals that it sells all over the world, and those from Foxconn are the central piece in all this gear.
Foxconn built in Zhengzhou, a city of 6 million people in a poor region of China, the largest factory where iPhone terminals are assembled. According to the information from there, no less than 500.000 terminals are assembled daily by Foxconn employees, several hundred thousand people working for them.
Zhengzhou is called by the locals the "iPhone city" because of the very large number of people who work in the industrial complex built by Foxconn there. Its sole purpose is to manufacture as many iPhone terminals as possible for the Apple company, all at the lowest possible price for those from Cupertino.
"iPhone City" where 500.000 units are assembled daily
According to a number of more than 100 interviews taken by American publications with the people who work there, Foxconn benefits annually from tax incentives worth several billion dollars. The Chinese government offers them so that Foxconn can assemble the iPhone terminals for the Apple company, and in return those from Cupertino benefit from very good production prices.
"It all centers on Zhengzhou, a city of six million people in an impoverished region of China. Running at full tilt, the factory here, owned and operated by Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, can produce 500,000 iPhones a day. Locals now refer to Zhengzhou as "iPhone City."
Those from Foxconn have invested many billions of dollars in the "iPhone city" and have many partners who have created a local infrastructure for the supply of components. In this idea, a move to the US would not be beneficial in one way or another for the Taiwanese and would seriously affect the profit obtained from the collaboration with Apple.
"The state-of-the-art facility was built several years ago to serve a single global exporter: Apple. The well-choreographed customs routine is part of a hidden bounty of perks, tax breaks and subsidies in China that supports the world's biggest iPhone factory. The package of sweeteners and incentives, worth billions of dollars, is central to the production of the iPhone, Apple's best-selling and most profitable product."
With such benefits offered by the Chinese government for the manufacture of the iPhone in his country, Donald Trump will have great problems in convincing someone to do the assembly in the USA. Those from Foxconn enjoy employees with little wishes and government incentives, and in the USA they will not find conditions as good.
