Apple partner Foxconn to start making ventilators in US

[TAIPEI] Foxconn, the company responsible for assembling most of the world's Apple iPhones, will aid the fight against the coronavirus pandemic by developing and making ventilators in the US.

The Wisconsin plant owned by Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, will be used to manufacture ventilators, Medtronic chief executive officer Omar Ishrak told CNBC.

Foxconn confirmed the partnership in a statement on Wednesday but did not say where and when it will be making the medical equipment.

There has been a critical shortage of supply globally for ventilators needed in the treatment of severe cases of Covid-19. Foxconn's collaboration with Medtronic covers design and development of the devices. Production will start within the next four to six weeks, Mr Ishrak said, without quantifying a volume.

Foxconn has been making face masks, used to curb the spread of the virus, in China since February and its subsidiary Sharp Corp also began churning them out in Japan in late March.

Foxconn's contract for its Wisconsin plant was signed with great fanfare in late 2017. US President Donald Trump, who had helped bring the deal together with the state's then-governor, Scott Walker, said Foxconn would revitalise US manufacturing and that its massive factory hub would become "the Eighth Wonder of the World".

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Since then, the plant - which was originally intended for making display panels - has been criticised for delays and changes of direction. The company missed its first-year hiring target by a wide margin, ending 2018 with 178 full-time employees.

BLOOMBERG