Foxconn Photo: VCG

World-leading contract electronics maker Foxconn's plant in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, has entered the production sprint, as the iPhone 16 series launch reportedly draws near, resulting in a significant increase in hiring demand, insiders and recruiters told the Global Times on Thursday.

The mass recruitment at the iPhone maker's plant in Zhengzhou is making headlines, with the maximum monthly salary for ordinary workers reported to be about 7,000 yuan ($976) to as much as 8,000 yuan, a relatively high level this year.

"We're in the peak hiring season now. The monthly salary is about 8,000 yuan, and the hourly wage is 25-26 yuan. We need a lot of workers and will take as many as we can get, mainly for the production of the iPhone 16 series," a recruitment manager surnamed Wu at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant confirmed to the Global Times on Thursday.

Some 50,000 new workers have been recruited in the past two weeks and more are needed, Chen Da, a recruitment agent said, ifeng.com reported.

The peak production season for Foxconn is from September to December every year. From July to August, various Foxconn locations start to recruit a large number of dispatch workers, according to media reports.

The mass recruitment comes amid speculation that the iPhone 16 series is expected to be released in early September.

Though Apple has tried to diversify its supply chain by shifting to the US and other countries like India, the results have been less than ideal. The iPhones produced in China offer better quality at lower cost, Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom industry observer, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Some base iPhone models and other hardware parts can be made in India, but the high-end models will be produced in China. The vast majority of Apple's production is cemented in China," Daniel Ives, senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, was quoted as saying by Yicai.

Ma also noted that China has a more mature supply chain than other locations and efficient production capacity. This encompasses a well-established network of component suppliers as well as an experienced and skilled labor force, making China an irreplaceable manufacturing hub.

However, some Western media outlets keep hyping claims that "Foxconn is leaving the Chinese mainland," ignoring the fact that Foxconn is continuing to increase investment in the mainland market and deepen cooperation with mainland enterprises.  

Young Liu, CEO and chairman of Foxconn, denied Foxconn's "relocation" to the Global Times, while also saying that having two or more suppliers in any sizable industry is quite normal.

In March, Apple chief executive Tim Cook arrived in Shanghai and reaffirmed the irreplaceable role of China for its supply chain. 

According to the supply chain list released by Apple in April this year, there were 155 factories in the Chinese mainland in the 2023 fiscal year, ranking first in absolute terms.

In July, Foxconn signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Henan provincial government to build a new business headquarters building in Zhengzhou, with the first phase of the project backed by total investment of about 1 billion yuan.