"Notable" slowdown at Foxconn manufacturing concerns Apple (Updated)

Or, they could ... I dunno ... move their manufacturing to the US and give some Americans a job. It might cost them a little more, but Jesus Christ, they have $50B in cash.

Apple can easily move production to the USA. They just need to build a combined production facility and prison.

Cheap labour. And prison slavery is a growth industry in the US so no shortage of workers.

Pure and unadulterated BS.

Now we're "worried" when a 1M+ employees manufacturer "only grows 26%". That's a joke, right?

The only logical explanation here is that somebody is trying to talk the stock down. Or maybe trying to get some sort of counter balance to the good AAPL news - and if this is all they can come up with, the most negative about Apple is that one of their prime suppliers which has over 1 Million employees grew 26% in January year-over-year - then I'd say buy now!

Last time I checked Apple itself wasn't even growing 26%, was it? For a company of Apple's size 26% would be a blowout year, no?

The "slow down" is not Apple, but likely the WIndows PCs and Netbooks they make for competitors. They built up production for Apple. The reality is that this reflects poorly on Foxconn's other customers, since Apple has always been trying to produce more product. The statement in the earning calls is always 'If we could have made more we would have sold more this last quarter." With Apple being one of the growing computer companies I am certain this should be the case for quite some time to come. The original analysis is by a analyst for JMP Securities who likely had a short on Apple or is buying up stock in the down turn. Unscrupulous pinheads who can't think to save their lives.

Good. Close down all plants and move production to the US.

I know nothing about labor and manufacturing, but wouldn't it be cool if some/all of this work could be brought back to the shores of Apple. It would be nice to reduce the number of unemployed and trade deficit.

That's just disgusting, sir.

The rate is still increasing. that is, there are more products this feb than last feb.

Lets use a car analogy.

two year ago, lets say, we were going 50 mph
last year, we would have been going 85 mph
this year, we would be at about 100.

So the rate of acceleration is decreasing, not the rate of production.

In all likelihood, the increase in growth was due to a new product launch last year - the iPad. As this year is seeing no new product (iPad 2 is just a new version) so we're not seeing the need for much more capacity. I think Apple's got just the right amount of capacity - sure at launch supply is tight - but for the rest of the year there is enough quantity on hand.

You never want too little supply, but you never want too much either.

Whoa! Foxconn production is NOT slowing down. Contrary to your misleading headline, the numbers you cited prove that the company is still INCREASING its production capacity (e.g., by 26% in February). It's just not increasing as fast as it was a year ago. There is no "slowdown" here. Now how about rewriting that panic-mongering headline?