Did Google help Foxconn replace 60,000 staff with robots?

Robot development alliance between Google and Foxconn goes back to 2014

Electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn has slashed its workforce from 110,000 to 50,000 "thanks to the introduction of robots", according to a government report in the South China Morning Post.

And the halving of the company's workforce seemingly follows on from a 2014 deal with Google to develop robotics systems for its factories in China.

The company that makes Apple and Samsung smartphones, as well as motherboards and other electronics parts, will likely be followed by other manufacturers, according to Foxconn's Xu Yulian, in a shift not seen since the automation of vehicle production in the 1980s.

In 2014, it was widely reported that Google and Foxconn had joined forces to develop robots. A statement to The Wall Street Journal was explicit that the aim was to replace labour with robots: "Using robots to replace human workers would be the next big thing in the technology industry.

"Not just Google, other major technology companies such as Microsoft and Amazon have been developing robotics technology to capture the future growth opportunities."

It's not clear exactly what jobs are being replaced, or whether Google is definitely a party to it all, but Foxconn snapped up the old Nokia dumb-phone business from Microsoft last week, and has made overtures towards the dedicated graphics card market, in which it has previously failed to make a significant dent.

The company also issued a profit warning to shareholders last month and this could equally be an attempt by the company to help goose its share price with financially positive news.

After all, Foxconn is well known for its disputes with its workforce, and various undercover stings have revealed poor wages and working conditions, which the company strenuously denies. However, it was shown at the time that the company was reducing the number of hours in workers' contracts to avoid severance payment responsibilities.

But all the pieces of the puzzle are there: a company under increasing pressure to deliver in a market that simultaneously demands cheaper components and higher standards for the workforce at a time when the technology has matured enough to let the robots take the strain.

Result: let the robots do it. It's probably not the last such case we'll see, and it will potentially put a huge amount of pressure on employment figures in the Far East.

Computing has asked Google for comment and will update the story accordingly.