Foxconn Completes $230 Mn Housing Project For Workers In TN

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn has reportedly completed its $230 Mn (INR 1,965.4 Cr) project of building housing facilities for its workers in Tamil Nadu.

The facility is ready for use by the Apple supplier’s vast women workforce, ET reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

“It has been built on Foxconn’s premises in Sriperumbudur, which means that a large chunk of their female workforce will now not have to even take a bus and commute to their hostels. They can merely walk down to their dorms,” a source was quoted as saying.

As per the report, the housing facility project is spread over 20 acres of its Sriperumbudur premises, consisting of six residential blocks holding 10 floors each with two additional blocks for utilities. The dorms have a total capacity of 18,000 beds.

The dorm set up also provides its workers with recreational facilities such as space to play cricket, badminton, basketball, and volleyball.

The facility has also established a canteen to provide subsidised meals for the workers along with a small grocery store for daily essential provision, one of the sources said.

This is Foxconn’s initial investment in the direction of setting up dormitories for its workers in the country.

It is pertinent to note that the workers’ housing facility set up is part of its plans to shift a significant portion of its iPhone production capabilities to its Tamil Nadu-based Indian manufacturing unit in 2022, from Zhengzhou (China) plant, which was its largest iPhone factory.

Earlier, in October 2022, the electronics manufacturer met with Tamil Nadu government officials to discuss issues such as housing facilities for workers and Foxconn’s plans for new ventures and investments.

This development comes following Foxconn’s reformed hiring instructions to its recruitment agents in the country to remove age, gender, marital status criteria and the company’s name from job advertisements for iPhone assembly positions.

The allegation of excluding married women from jobs at its iPhone assembly facility in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur came to light earlier in June, as per a Reuters report.

India has witnessed a significant surge in the production of Apple iPhones in recent days, contributing 12-14% of global iPhone production volume in FY24.

Apple is now also looking to assemble 32% of the global iPhone production volume and 26% of its value in India by 2026-27.

Meanwhile, Foxconn, the top iPhone supplier, recently initiated the manufacturing of the iPhone 16 Pro Series at its Tamil Nadu facility and procured equipment worth $31 Mn for its India plant.