Foxconn to use 1m robots on assembly lines

Taiwan’s Foxconn (2354.TPE), the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, said it plans to use about 300,000 robots next year and 1 million by 2013, highlighting the dramatic changes occurring in Chinese factories, the Financial Times reported. Foxconn, known for assembling Apple’s (AAPL.NYSE, AAPL.NASDAQ) iPad and iPhone, is China’s biggest employer with about 1 million workers and just 10,000 robots on its production lines today. Salaries for migrant workers increased 30-40% last year and will rise by another 20-30% annually by 2013, said Dong Tao, chief regional economist at Credit Suisse. Foxconn’s shift towards automation is part of a broader movement among China-based manufacturers, said Alvin Kwock, head of hardware technology research at JP Morgan. “It signals that the cost of labor is no longer lower than the cost of capital,” Kwock added.