Apple Supplier Replaces 60,000 Employees With Robots

The Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.), an Apple Inc. supplier, has replaced 60,000 factory employees with robots, the MarketWatch reports citing Chinese media.

All of the workers are from the same factory and their layoff is part of a massive reduction in China’s Jiangsu province, where around 600 companies are reportedly mulling replacing employees with robots, the MarketWatch said on Wednesday.

Foxconn, as well as 34 other companies, spent 4 billion yuan ($610 million) on artificial intelligence last year, according to local government officials cited by South China Morning Post last week.

According to the MarketWatch, Foxconn has been criticized for inadequate working conditions for years.