Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, said wastewater from one of its factories in eastern China meets environmental standards as regulators investigate allegations of pollution.
All emissions from the plant in Kunshan meet relevant laws and regulations, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Foxconn and Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興電子) are being investigated by the government, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Ding Yudong, vice director of the local department of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Foxconn, whose Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) assembles Apple Inc iPhones and iPads, released toxic waste into rivers near the Kunshan plant, according to environmental groups, including the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Pollution has displaced land disputes as the main cause of China’s 30,000 to 50,000 annual incidents of civil unrest, Chen Jiping (陳冀平), a member of the top political advisory body to China’s National People’s Congress, said in March.
“We hope that corporations can shoulder their responsibilities in protecting the environment,” Ma Jun (馬軍), a director with IPE, one of five organizations to criticize Foxconn and Unimicron, said yesterday.
Foxconn has been in talks with the environmental groups in the past two days, although no specific plans have been made, Ma said.
The plants of Foxconn and Unimicron in Kunshan, which is located about 640km from Shanghai, are included on Apple’s supplier list.
“We do not tolerate environmental violations of any kind and regularly audit our suppliers to make sure they are in compliance,” Kitty Potter, a spokeswoman for Apple, said by telephone.
Taiwan-based Unimicron did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News yesterday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day