Have you heard of Foxconn?
Quick, what do the following gadgets have in common?
- Apple’s Mac Mini, iPod, and iPhone
- Sony’s Playstation II and Playstation III
- Nintendo’s Wii
- Microsoft’s XBox 360
- Amazon’s Kindle
- Hewlett Packard’s Mysterious Black Box
If you answered that they’re all manufactured by the same company, you’re right. FoxConn is Taiwan’s largest private company and China’s largest exporter. They produce all sorts of high-tech gadgets as an original equipment manufacturer.
Along with the ones I mentioned above, they make various computer parts for Intel, HP, and Dell, and countless cellular phones. While most of their manufacturing is done in China, they also have facilities all over the world, including several in the US.
It’s hard to find out detailed information about Foxconn. Their web site is a bit sketchy on specifics, and they rarely make the news in the US. The last time anyone heard of them in US tech news was when Apple dealt with some labor issues at their factory. But they seem to have a huge impact on the tech industry.
While they seem to do a fine job—I have no complaints about how my iPhone, iPods, and game consoles were assembled—it’s amusing to imagine iPods and all three major game consoles being made in the same company’s factories.
It’s actually a new find for me. I didn’t even know that they were the manufacturers of some gadgets that I’m actually using now. For some cool widgets and gadgets this site http://www.widgetsandgadgets.com/ might be of interest to techie guys and gals.
Comment by Franko Damian — March 7, 2008 @ 2:38 pm