Foxconn to build ‘world’s largest smartphone production base’ in Henan

Authorities in central China’s Henan province have announced a plan to build the world’s largest factory for smartphones in 2012. Located at Foxconn Science Park in capital Zhengzhou, the new base will have 95 production lines and cost 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion); it’s expected to bring $20 billion in sales revenue in 2012. According to Governor Guo Gengmao, Foxconn’s current factory in Zhengzhou employs 130,000 people, a figure that will be almost doubled with the new expansion — although some of these jobs may simply replace those cut from Foxconn’s factories in Shenzhen. The whole company has 1.2 million employees, most of them in mainland China.

It’s worth noting that although the reports all mention smartphone production, we don’t have any details on specific products or plans beyond the expansion itself, making this all somewhat conjectural. Guo has said that the Zhengzhou factory currently produces 200,000 iPhones a day, so it’s reasonable to speculate that it’s expanding to keep up with demand for Apple products or taking on some of the manufacturing previously done in Shenzhen. But Foxconn also holds contracts for the Xbox 360, second-generation Kindle Fire, and many other products.