Hon Hai Chairman Upbeat Despite Global Recession

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., one of the worlds' leading providers of electronic manufacturing services, is recruiting over 1,000 personnel in Taiwan as chairman Terry Guo believes the global economy is not as bad as expected.

To meet the demand growth in Europe, Hon Hai's subsidiary in the Czech Republic may have its production capacity expanded by over 10%, with such expansion to be repeated at the company's other plants in Europe.

Hon Hai's Czech plant scored approximately NT$150 billion in sales last year, about the same relative to the preceding year. With 6,000 workers at the Czech plant, Hon Hai was the nation's second-largest exporter last year, only behind Skoda of the Volkswagen Group, with Hon Hai's exports accounting for 3.7% of Czechs' overall exports in 2008.

Hon Hai's major European footholds are in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Finland. After setting up a joint-venture plant in St. Petersburg of Russia with Hewlett Packard last year, both sides announced earlier this year another joint-venture to set up a PC plant in Turkey.

Guo said global deployment is one of Hon Hai's competitive edges: Hon Hai has acquired one of Motorola's plants in Mexico. With a work force of over 10,000, the plant is billed as Mexico's largest exporter. With the inking of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Mexico plant is expected to become one of Hon Hai's cash cows.

Despite the economic downturn, Hon Hai does not cut back on personnel and R&D expenditures. For example, since February Hon Hai has recruited 5% more workforce in China.

Source & Copyright: CENS