Foxconn to Break Ground Tomorrow on China HQ and R&D Labs in Shanghai

Foxconn, the world’s biggest OEM manufacturer of gadgets, will break ground tomorrow on a new China HQ and research center in Shanghai. Scheduled to be completed in early 2015, it’ll be located in the city’s Pudong district, near to other hi-tech facilities as well as Shanghai’s larger airport.

Taiwan-based Foxconn (LSE:HHPD; HKEX:2038; TPE:2354) has sent out invitations for the ground-breaking ceremony in readiness for tomorrow. The facility will house, according to PC World, research and development labs as well as a sales centre for its struggling e-commerce venture in China.

The new Foxconn HQ will not play host to a factory, of course. The Taiwanese OEM already employs about 1.2 million workers in mainland China across its huge plants in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shandong province, Henan province, and other areas. The gadget manufacturer – assembling items for the likes of Apple, HP, Microsoft, and numerous other tech and retail brands – has been mired in controversy for many years in the country, with tragic suicides, factory-floor explosions, and worker violence often making international news.

In other Foxconn-related events today, we glimpsed some screenshots of a mooted Foxconn-made Baidu budget smartphone.

[Source: PC World]