Foxconn

Foxconn Technology Group ( 富士康), a subsidiary company of Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd. founded by Taiwan tycoon Terry Guo in 1974, is a multinational electronics contract manufacturer headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei.

With a number of world renowned clients, including, the top-notch IT creator Apple Inc., Foxconn joins the ranks of top 500 corporations listed by Fortune Magazine. The company expanded extensively in the past two decades, setting up 13 factories in China's mainland and several abroad, in countries including India, South Africa and Mexico.

Despite growing its business all around the world, the company did not truly come into the limelight until a series of suicides committed by domestic employees were exposed in 2010—a year that saw more than a dozen of Foxconn workers cutting wrists, jumping to death or hanging themselves. The world’s famous electronic supplier was then alleged of maltreatment and exploitation. To ease tensions and rebuild its reputation, the company promised to raise wages for its workers in China's mainland.

However, no more than a year after the suicide scandal, the company was again involved in an incident, in which a factory in Chengdu exploded, resulting in three casualties and 16 injured. The explosion caused a complete halt of the assembly lines, including one which produced the IPad 2. The accident, which took place on May 20, 2011, was probably caused by combustible light dust igniting in one of the manufacturing rooms.

A Jan. 22, 2014 report by CTnews said some of Foxconn's senior executives were accused of taking bribes from suppliers in Chinese mainland. Taiwanese authorities raided 19 locations, including the residences of those allegedly involved in the case, and questioned 12 executives a day before.