Apple COO Jeff Williams Visits Taiwan to Celebrate 50 Years of Foxconn

[MacRumors]

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams is making a rare visit to Taiwan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Foxconn, one of the company's key suppliers, Bloomberg reports.

Apple's COO is joined by senior vice president of operations Sabih Khan, as well as representatives from SoftBank and Arm. Foxconn assembles Apple devices including the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. The supplier is currently helping Apple shift some iPhone assembly to India as the company looks to diversify its global supply chain.

Williams last visited Taiwan in 2017 for TSMC's 30th anniversary celebrations. Apple CEO Tim Cook has not visited Taiwan since 2008. Williams spearheaded development of the Apple Watch and Apple's various health initiatives. He now oversees many vital areas of the company, including hardware and software design.

Williams is reportedly the frontrunner to succeed Cook as Apple's CEO. He is apparently "seen as the heir apparent" within the company, having run Apple's global operations under Cook's leadership, a role that Cook previously undertook for Steve Jobs prior to becoming CEO himself.



Article Link: Apple COO Jeff Williams Visits Taiwan to Celebrate 50 Years of Foxconn

 

[Dan From Canada]

Whatever happened to that Foxconn plant that was supposed to start up in the States?

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Whatever happened to that Foxconn plant that was supposed to start up in the States?

Foxconn Science and Technology Park | Foxconn Wisconsin

Foxconn's Science and Technology Park located in Wisconsin is a 3,000-acre campus. Over $1 Billion has been invested by Foxconn in its development in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin. The Foxconn Wisconsin project has captured the attention of future developers and partners across the world.

www.foxconnwiofficial.com

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

Suicide nets are the only thing that the general public knows about Foxconn.

 

[GrayFlannel]

India is not a good alternative.

 

[TheLinkster]

India is not a good alternative.

Care to elaborate?

 

[GrayFlannel]

Care to elaborate?

No thank you. No desire to go down the political rabbit hole.

 

[sw1tcher]

Whatever happened to that Foxconn plant that was supposed to start up in the States?

Microsoft is taking over the land to build a datacenter

Microsoft agrees to buy $50m Foxconn parcel in Wisconsin

Microsoft has agreed to buy a $50 million parcel of land in southeastern Wisconsin meant for Foxconn after the world’s largest electronics manufacturer failed to fulfill grandiose promises to build a massive facility that would employ thousands of workers. Microsoft plans to build a $1 billion...

apnews.com

Mount Pleasant approves Microsoft deal for data centers on Foxconn land

Six years after Foxconn announced plans to invest $9 billion for a massive development in Mount Pleasant, village officials approved a new deal Monday to allow Microsoft to purchase more than 1,000 acres originally intended for the company. Proponents of the plans say the project, which will...

www.wpr.org

 

[blodyholy]

Based on their Indeed profile (which they link to!), I’d say things are going swimmingly up there🙄

Foxconn WI - Indeed

 

[MrMojo1]

Whatever happened to that Foxconn plant that was supposed to start up in the States?

www.cnbc.com/2021/04/21/foxconn-mostly-abandons-10-billion-wisconsin-project-touted-by-trump.html

www.theverge.com/23030465/foxconn-lcd-factory-wisconsin-alan-yeung-trump-scott-walker-wisconn-valley-dome-decoder-interview

 

[vipergts2207]

Apple needs another idea guy to run the company, not another supply chain guy with no personality.

 

[picpicmac]

No desire to go down the political rabbit hole.

You already started down that hole.

 

[t0rqx]

Maybe he should check QC why all Macbooks come with microscratches in the screen since the M1.

 

[Harry Haller]

Maybe he should check QC why all Macbooks come with microscratches in the screen since the M1.

Must have been exhausting testing all those MacBooks.
Are your eyes tired?

 

[tomtad]

What are we celebrating exactly?

 

[Harry Haller]

What are we celebrating exactly?

The 50th anniversary of Foxconn, one of the company's key suppliers.

 

[fromgophonetoiphone]

It's crazy that Tim Cook has not visited since 2008. Is that purely for political reasons? I get a lot of manufacturing operations are in China, but these CMs are almost all Taiwanese companies. Not to mention there are still engineering, pilot lines, and some low(er) volume manufacturing in Taiwan still.

 

[fromgophonetoiphone]

Care to elaborate?

Only 50% of iPhone Casings Made in India Meet Apple's Quality Standards

Apple is facing difficulties scaling up its production operations in India amid poor component yields and slow progress, the Financial Times reports....

www.macrumors.com

As someone who's worked with teams in both countries, there's a huge culture difference. Chinese workers from the bottom to the top can be pushed hard whether it's through simple work pressure or pay or overtime. Indian workers lack this kind of motivation. I've been in so many meetings where they're more eager to break for tea than to resolve the current issue.

India's advantage today is cost of labor and less of a language barrier, but it remains to be seen if the engineering capabilities, production quality, smooth operations can truly rival that of Taiwanese/Chinese CMs.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Whatever happened to that Foxconn plant that was supposed to start up in the States?

Foxconn Science and Technology Park | Foxconn Wisconsin

Foxconn's Science and Technology Park located in Wisconsin is a 3,000-acre campus. Over $1 Billion has been invested by Foxconn in its development in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin. The Foxconn Wisconsin project has captured the attention of future developers and partners across the world.

www.foxconnwiofficial.com

From what I've read it was more about the real estate deal, what buildings have been built remain half finished and empty. I don't think Foxconn's official site on the project is the best place for unbiased information.

How about this site: https://www.wpr.org/economy/developer-sues-foxconn-breach-contract-over-stalled-wisconsin-project

Or just the Wikipedia page which links to that site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconn_Valley_Science_and_Technology_Park

Seems like it was the fairly standard way of doing business these days. Federal boondoggle whose main purpose was a photo op and big money deal for everyone to get a piece of, which the state was supposed to get stuck with the tax liability for.

 

[DownUnderDan]

What are we celebrating exactly?

First sentence of article " a rare visit to Taiwan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Foxconn"

 

[svish]

Foxconn is a very important parter for Apple. Not surprising to hear this. Good to hear that some production is shifting to India.

 

[DeepIn2U]

First sentence of article " a rare visit to Taiwan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Foxconn"

I thought Foxconn was headquartered is China not Taiwan. Guess im wrong.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I thought Foxconn was headquartered is China not Taiwan. Guess im wrong.

While headquartered in Taiwan, the company earns the majority of its revenue from assets in China