IPod maker announces $1bn expansion

Foxconn, the manufacturer of Apple's iPod, will spend $1bn to set up a new factory complex in northern China, the local government in the region has announced.

The Taiwanese manufacturer's new plants will be in the same region as Intel's recently announced $2.5bn chip factory.

The factory will produce printed circuit boards and connectors for Foxconn's contract electronics manufacturing customers, according to reports in Taiwan's Economic Daily News (EDN) today.

While the company does not normally discuss details of its contract electronics manufacturing work, its customers in the past two years have included leading global brands such as Apple, Dell, Sony and HP.

Foxconn, the flagship brand name used by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry group, is also reported to be the manufacturer of Apple's iPhone, although neither company has confirmed the reports.

According to the announcement from China's Qin Huang Dao city government cited by EDN, Hon Hai chief executive Terry Guo has already signed an agreement to develop the factory site in the depressed industrial region.

At least 35,000 will be employed at the plant complex in the Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone, although this headcount appears relatively low by the standards of Hon Hai's Chinese operations.

The initial investment of more than $1bn will be spread over three years. Construction will begin before the end of this year.

Hon Hai already has several huge plants dotted throughout eastern and southern China's high tech manufacturing areas.

Another new factory complex that has just started construction in Wuhan, central China, will employ some 200,000 when it is complete, according to the EDN.