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Hon Hai boosts mainland workforce by 5% despite global downturn

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-04 16:04

Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai said on Wednesday it had increased its workforce on the Chinese mainland by 5 percent despite the global downturn, and would be diversifying its product line to include software services.

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"In the short term, things are not as bad as they are made out to be," Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said, adding that he still wants revenue in the company's various departments to grow this year.

Hon Hai, whose third-quarter net profit fell 10 percent from a year earlier, said late last year it was looking to cut between 3 percent and 5 percent of its workforce as the economic slowdown sapped demand for the tech gadgets that they manufacture.

Gou said the company employs about 600,000 employees globally, but he did not provide a breakdown for the Chinese mainland. Other Hon Hai officials were not immediately available for comment.

Many global tech companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, have been slashing their workforce as demand for everything from mobile phones to laptops shrivelled during a deepening global recession.

Hon Hai is a contract manufacturer that makes some of the world's most famous gadgets, including Apple's iPhone and Nintendo's Wii game console.