Foxconn Guanlan Technology Park Photo/Hu Ling (NBD)

May 23 (NBD) – A staff dormitory of Chinese electronics contract manufacturing firm Foxconn in Shenzhen was reported to become empty, as tens of thousands of employees left the plant, in a video on social media platform Weibo.

On a field visit to the plant, National Business Daily (NBD) was informed by sources with Foxconn that the building appearing in the video is located near the north gate of Foxconn Guanlan Technology Park and is offered for dispatched workers. The dormitory is generally unoccupied every year during the off season of manufacturing, the sources added.

NBD found that the 15-story V-shaped building is almost vacant except for a few people on the fifth and sixth floor.

It is a common situation for the dormitory in the low season, according to Yang Li, who worked in the property management office of the residential building. "Foxconn hasn't start hiring dispatched workers this year, because it is not the production season now."

It is noticed that the Foxconn Guanlan Technology Park is mainly engaged in manufacturing iPhone models. "Every September when Apple is about to release its new smartphone models and Foxconn receives massive orders from the U.S. company, the building alone will accommodate up to 20,000 workers," Yang noted.

In the off season, there would be only 30,000 to 40,000 workers in the whole Foxconn Guanlan Technology Park that can house up to 100,000 employees, said another Foxconn employee Wang Ming in an interview with NBD.

Wang told NBD that manufacturing firms like Foxconn prefer hiring dispatched workers to cut costs. Such enterprises take in a raft of workers through staffing companies when a large number of orders come, but halt employment after November when their order volume decreases, Wang explained.

Data from market research firm Canalys showed the shipment of iPhones in China dropped by 30 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2019.

As a major manufacturer for Apple, Foxconn's financial performance is, to some extent, affected by Apple's declining shipments.

Foxconn's parent company posted a sliding net income in the same period. The earnings report for Q1 2019 showed the net profit fell by 17.7 percent year on year to around 19.83 billion new Taiwan dollars.

 

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn

Editor: Zhang Lingxiao