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FoxconnVoices of "leaving" have appeared from time to time before, and now, a series of signals show thatFoxconnagain"return"Over。

Recently, the news of Foxconn's recruitment in Zhengzhou has attracted widespread attention. According to media reports,appleWith the release of new models, a large number of workers have flocked to Foxconn in Zhengzhou. The intermediary said that at least 50,000 new employees have entered the factory in the past two weeks, and the factory is still recruiting on a large scale.

On July 24, Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai announced that Foxconn Technology Group will invest 1 billion yuan in Zhengzhou, Henan to build a new business headquarters building. The project involves seven major centers, including headquarters management, R&D, strategic industry development, and supply chain management. It will also deploy electric vehicle manufacturing and solid-state battery projects.

As the world's largest electronics foundry, Foxconn has the largest number of factories in China, among which the Zhengzhou Foxconn Park plays a pivotal role. For Henan, Foxconn has contributed a large number of jobs and export goods, boosting local economic development.

Henan and Foxconn seem inseparable. But the current story is different from the previous one.

In 2010, Foxconn settled in Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone and officially started to build a factory in Zhengzhou. In the following period, when smartphones were developing rapidly in China, Foxconn Zhengzhou, which mainly produced Apple phones, continued to expand its scale and even became Foxconn's largest factory in the world.

Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park Image source: Daily Economic News (Photo by Wang Jiafei)

At the same time, Foxconn has absorbed a large number of employees. Chen Xiaofei, an associate professor at Henan University, mentioned in a paper published at the end of 2021 that through research, it was found that during the peak production period, the number of employees in Foxconn Zhengzhou Science and Technology Park reached more than 300,000.

The arrival of Foxconn has made Zhengzhou a gathering place for the electronic information industry and an important mobile phone production base.

In 2011, the second year after Foxconn landed in Zhengzhou, the Zhengzhou Statistics Bureau disclosed mobile phone production as a separate data in its annual statistical bulletin for the first time. Zhengzhou produced 24.45 million mobile phones that year.

In the following years, Zhengzhou's mobile phone production doubled, reaching 68.46 million units in 2012 and 96.45 million units in 2013. Just three years later, in 2014, Zhengzhou's mobile phone production exceeded 100 million, reaching 119 million units. The peak was in 2017, when Zhengzhou's mobile phone production was close to 300 million units.

A large proportion of these mobile phones are exported overseas. For example, in 2020, when statistics were available, the number of mobile phones exported from Zhengzhou accounted for 68% of the number of mobile phones produced.

Foxconn's huge export volume has also driven up Henan's overall exports. According to a news release by the Henan Provincial Government in January 2023, Foxconn's import and export volume accounts for about 60% of the province's total import and export volume and 80% of Zhengzhou's total import and export volume.

The above data undoubtedly illustrates the importance of Foxconn to the local economy.

Of course, Henan and Zhengzhou have also given strong support to Foxconn's development. In addition to providing Foxconn with preferential policies such as land and taxation, the local government has also implemented a "top-down" recruitment model for its most urgently needed labor force.

Chen Xiaofei's paper mentioned that the Henan Provincial Government assigned the recruitment task to the cities of various prefecture-level cities in Henan Province. The task was delegated step by step. On average, each township needed to recruit 30-50 workers to work at Foxconn. The completion of recruitment was even used as an important reference standard for assessing the work of the government.

In order to integrate regional resources to the greatest extent, Foxconn has made additional investments in other cities in Henan Province, gradually forming a regional production network with "one core" (Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone) and "multiple points" (Jiyuan City, Hebi City, Zhoukou City, Shangqiu City, Nanyang City, etc.).

Image source: "Coupling mechanism between local embeddedness of multinational corporations and regional development strategies from the perspective of labor: A case study of Foxconn's investment in Zhengzhou", Chen Xiaofei et al., Geographical Research, Vol. 40, No. 12, December 2021

The two sides spent nearly 10 years in a "honeymoon period", during which the economies of Henan and Zhengzhou grew along with Foxconn's performance.

Henan may not have thought that the introduction of Foxconn would have such a big impact on the local area. When the scale of a company can be described as "huge", some people have raised the question of whether Zhengzhou and Henan have become "Foxconn-dependent"?

Foxconn's factory building in Henan is a microcosm of China's opening up to the outside world.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce show that after joining the WTO, my country's utilization of foreign capital increased from US$46.88 billion in 2001 to US$144.374 billion in 2020, making it the world's largest trading country in goods and the world's largest recipient of foreign investment.

However, during the epidemic, the production of Foxconn in Zhengzhou was affected, and there was a shortage of staff at one point, and the output dropped sharply. In 2020, the output of mobile phones in Zhengzhou was only 135 million units, which was more than one-third lower than in 2019. It rebounded in 2021, but continued to decline in 2022 and 2023.

At the same time, Henan's mobile phone exports have continued to decline in the past four years, from 92.109 million units in 2020 to 57.610 million units in 2023.

On the other hand, as China's labor costs rise and the international environment changes, some companies have moved their factories to Southeast Asia and India. Foxconn has also built new factories in India and Vietnam, planning to produce Apple products locally, sparking speculation of "Foxconn leaving".

During this period, Zhengzhou's economic growth rate was not ideal, especially in 2022.GDP growth rate is only 1%This includes factors such as the epidemic and real estate, as well as the impact of Foxconn's production cuts.

However, Foxconn's production in India and other places has not been smooth. According to Cankao Xiaoxi, due to the failure of the Indian factory to assemble the iPhone 15 last year and the rejection of the products, Apple CEO Cook went to mainland China to reorganize the supply chain. This year, Apple has transferred part of its production capacity back to the foundry in mainland China.

After the epidemic prevention and control measures were adjusted, the number of employees at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou quickly recovered. In January 2023, an article published on the Henan Provincial Government website showed that the production capacity of Foxconn Zhengzhou Science and Technology Park had returned to its seasonal peak and exceeded previous levels, with a stable manpower of 200,000.

After that, Henan Province and Foxconn immediately began planning new cooperation.

In April 2023, the Henan Provincial Government held a special mobilization and deployment meeting on Foxconn, with the aim of accelerating the implementation of a new round of strategic cooperation between Henan and Foxconn Technology Group.

Sun Shougang, member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor, mentioned at the meeting that deepening a new round of strategic cooperation with Foxconn Technology Group is of great significance to promoting the high-quality development of Henan's industries. Sun Shougang asked all government departments to provide follow-up services, strengthen factor guarantees, and coordinate and solve problems in a timely manner.

Subsequently, a series of cooperation results were achieved one after another.

On April 25, 2023, Foxconn's new business headquarters was unveiled in Zhengzhou. Foxconn said that it will build the new business headquarters into a core base and important benchmark for Foxconn's global innovation and industrial layout.

At the unveiling ceremony, Liu Yangwei, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, said that in Henan“Rebuilding a new Foxconn”. Since then, some specific projects have begun to take shape.

On June 16, 2023, Foxconn New Business Development Group Co., Ltd. was established with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. It will coordinate the development of new industries including new energy vehicles and batteries.

On January 4, 2024, Henan Foxconn New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Company was established with a registered capital of 500 million yuan to further focus on the new energy vehicle industry.

On July 22, 2024, the Henan Provincial People's Government and Foxconn Technology Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Zhengzhou. Henan Provincial Party Secretary Lou Yangsheng attended the signing ceremony, which shows the importance the local government attaches to this cooperation.

This round of strategic cooperation between Henan and Foxconn is no longer just focused on mobile phones, but revolves around the implementation of the "3+3" strategy.

Image source: Henan Daily

The so-called "3+3" strategy refers to electric vehicles, digital health,robotThree emerging industries and three new technology fields: artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and new-generation mobile communications. These industries are also emerging industries that are being vigorously developed in China.

Foxconn will also deploy electric vehicle pilot production center, solid-state battery and other projects in Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone. On July 23, the groundbreaking ceremony of Foxconn's new energy vehicle pilot production center was held in Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone.

Henan Provincial Governor Wang Kai expressed the hope that Foxconn would remain confident in investing in Henan, focus on cultivating new industries and developing new technologies... and jointly build a high-end manufacturing industry chain and a strategic emerging industry ecosystem.

Liu Yangwei, chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, also mentioned that Foxconn will continue to take root in Henan and deepen cooperation in Henan, and deepen cooperation between the two sides in new technologies, new fields and new tracks.

Henan needs Foxconn, but it doesn’t just need Foxconn. Before this cooperation started, Henan Province had been actively promoting industrial diversification to reduce its reliance on a single company.BYDBecome the first choice.

In April 2023, the BYD factory in Zhengzhou officially went into production. Of the 316,000 new energy vehicles produced in Zhengzhou in 2023, 200,000 were produced by BYD. With the help of BYD, it took Zhengzhou less than a year to enter the top ten cities in the production of new energy vehicles.

After the "stalling" of mobile phone exports, Zhengzhou's electric vehicle exports performed well. According to Zhengzhou Customs data, in the first four months of 2024, Henan's electric vehicle exports amounted to 2.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 69.6%.

Of course, Foxconn is still one of the companies that Henan attaches the most importance to, and in the future the two sides will work together to promote the implementation of the "3+3" emerging industries.

Back in 2010, when Foxconn just decided to settle in Zhengzhou, the reason given was the "airport, population and location" here.

Today, these characteristics have not changed, and there are also external forces such as opportunities for China's industrial transformation and upgrading, a complete supply chain, and strong support from local governments.

The story of Henan and Foxconn continues.

Text | Tang Jun