Taiwan’s Foxcon Technology Group will cut its huge workforce in response to rising wages and declining growth in China. The group runs under Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd and usually has about 1.3 million employees during peak production times; it is one of the largest private employees in the world. The spokesperson didn’t say when or where the reduction would take place, but he said that labor costs had more than doubled since 2010 under intense media scrutiny.
Revenue growth at the company went to 1.3 percent in 2013 and only regained to 6.5 percent last year after a huge run from 2003 to 2012. That’s when the firm got to ride on the heels of a huge explosion of popularity in smartphones, PCs, and tablets, most from its main client Apple. This year, though, it is expected that falling prices and growth in the gadget market will continue.