Foxconn has been hiring up to 10,000 new workers a WEEK as it prepares to ramp up production capacity to start manufacturing the iPhone 5S.
Apple is believed to be aiming to sell the new handset this autumn as well as working on a cheaper version of the iPhone for the Asian market.
According to the Wall Street Journal the new assembly-line workers have been taken on since the last week in March.
It said Foxconn refused to confirm the numbers, only to say that it would continue to take on new workers to “meet seasonal demand from clients.”
The newspaper quoted “a Foxconn executive with direct knowledge of production plans” as saying that the new workers were being hired to work on “mass-producing the new iPhone soon.”
The WSJ said: “Foxconn employed about 300,000 people in Zhengzhou last year. This year, a majority of the company’s migrant workers opted to return to their jobs after the Lunar New Year holiday in February, allowing Foxconn to freeze hiring in China.
“The company has more than 1.4 million workers in China. It typically adjusts staffing according to the electronics production cycle, for which demand usually picks up in the second quarter after a traditionally slow start to the year.”
Via: WSJ