Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, Taiwanese contract manufacturers for American companies like Apple are moving their production lines out of mainland China. Recently, a viral aerial video showed abandoned factories in the Foxconn industrial park in Nanning, painting a desolate picture. Foxconn, a key supplier of Apple’s iPhone, is a subsidiary of the Hon Hai Group.
Taiwanese companies started venturing into China in the 1990s, playing a crucial role in transforming the mainland into the world’s factory. However, three decades later, major international companies including those from Taiwan are actively withdrawing from China and shifting towards production bases in countries like India and Vietnam, where labor costs are lower and geopolitical risks are smaller.
In a video released on Monday (April 29) by the Youtube channel “China Observer,” the once bustling Foxconn industrial park in Nanning now appears silent and desolate.
According to public records, the Nanning Foxconn industrial park used to have 50,000 employees. However, since shifting operations overseas, it has become almost a ghost town.
The video maker explained that previously, the Nanning Foxconn factory required vast resources to meet the needs of its 50,000 employees, including 60 tons of rice, 280 pigs, 1.2 million eggs, and 80,000 chickens daily.
Youtuber “I’m Jie Shao” released a video five months ago where he investigated the situation after rumors of Foxconn relocating to Vietnam. The video showed a worn-out “Recruitment Suspended” sign at the entrance of the recruitment center in the industrial park. The youtuber mentioned that the official Foxconn website had also announced the cessation of recruitment, attributing it to the high workload and low wages that led to numerous resignations and the continual need for new hires. The youtuber mainly focused on the daily life of the locals in Nanning.
According to a report by Nikkei Asia last year, Foxconn has been heavily investing in the northern province of Bac Giang in Vietnam.
Vietnamese media reported last summer that Foxconn planned to invest an additional $300 million and hire 30,000 employees. In February this year, Foxconn signed a contract to lease 45 hectares of land until 2057. It is projected that by 2025, around 30% of Foxconn’s production will be carried out outside mainland China.
Last year, Epoch Times reported on the impact of Foxconn’s capacity relocation at its Zhengzhou plant, which led to a significant reduction in the workforce from a peak of 300,000 to around 60-70,000. The commercial pedestrian street in the employee supporting living area “Yuxin New Town” in Zhengzhou Science and Technology Park has become deserted, with shops closed down or displaying messages of rental or transfer.
Similar to the negative impact on Zhengzhou caused by Foxconn’s capacity relocation, aside from the abandoned factory scenes in the circulating videos, the outflow of local workers is also affecting the real estate market and physical businesses in Nanning.
According to data released by Apple last week, in 2023, out of Apple’s 465 production bases, 156 were located in China, accounting for 33.6% of the total. This percentage had dropped from 46% five years prior. The lost share has mostly shifted towards countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, and India. Since 2023, new iPhone models have been produced simultaneously in India and China from the day of their release.