Foxconn to Hire 400,000 Workers in China

Foxconn Technology Group will hire as many as 400,000 workers in China in the coming year. The company, which was rocked by a string of employee suicides earlier this year, also plans to build factories closer workers' homes.

The Taiwanese company, which makes products including the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, aims to expand to inland provinces Henan and Sichuan because that's "what the new generation of workers wants," Louis Woo, special assistant to the chief executive officer, told Bloomberg News.

At least 12 Foxconn workers have killed themselves this year, leading the company to install safety nets to stop employees jumping to their deaths. The company blames personal problems for the deaths, and has doubled the base wage for some of its workers.

The hiring spree will take the company's China workforce to a range of 1.2 million to 1.3 million. The hiring plan alone is equivalent to more than three times the combined headcount of Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.