Reports of overworked and underpaid employees in Foxconn’s Chinese factories — along with allegations of child labor — have led to a number of public reforms for the manufacturer. The company has also publicly mulled over plans to build robotic factories to help circumvent such reports altogether.
A partnership could prove beneficial for Google as well, providing a real-world test bed for the company’s robotic creations. The move could also allow the company to ramp up manufacturing, reducing dependence on other companies should Google create more hardware. Most notably, Google makes the Chromecast, a web streaming device for televisions, and Glass, an as-yet-unreleased headset computer.
Whether Google’s relationship with Foxconn continues beyond the trial stage will be determined in the coming years. Recently, Google has made an effort to expand manufacturing in the United States, first through its failed Nexus Q set-top media box and more recently by way of a plant in Texas that made Google-owned Motorola smartphones. Google’s recently announced plans to sell off Motorola may lessen its manufacturing load, however.
It’s worth noting that, while Foxconn’s most prominent facilities are based in China, the company has plants all over the world, including a $30 million Pennsylvania location set to open next year. Those plans, first announced in 2013, included a partnership with nearby Carnegie Mellon that would see the facility manufacturing, of all things, robotics.
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