Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer, Foxconn, has reportedly received orders from Huawei Technologies, according Taiwan’s Central News Agency (in Chinese). The company expects to add 50,000 workers to production lines at its plant in Zhengzhou, in central China’s Henan province. The expansion is aimed at serving incoming demand, according to the sources cited in the article.
The Zhengzhou factory, which just underwent a massive layoff, began interviewing workers immediately after the Chinese New Year holiday, the report says. Last month, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Foxconn was forced to lay off 50,000 workers due to weakness in iPhone sales.
The Zhengzhou plant accounts for nearly half of iPhone’s production, and employs as many as 350,000 people during peak season.
Separately, Foxconn’s facility in Shenzhen has also been recruiting and may add as many as 20,000 workers. Similar recruitment efforts have been in the works at multiple plants across China, including in Hunan and Jiangsu provinces.
Foxconn’s China facilities have not only been hit by Apple’s slowing sales, but also the ongoing trade war between the US and China. Foxconn announced last month that it plans to invest more than $200 million in India and Vietnam as it shifts more of its output to South and Southeast Asia. The decision was prompted by rising US tariffs on Chinese imports.
New orders coming from the controversial Chinese smartphone maker Huawei appear poised to give Foxconn China a boost. Huawei surpassed Apple and became the second largest smartphone seller last year.