Foxconn Doubling Down on Zhengzhou iPhone Plant

Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is plotting a major expansion of its operations in 2012, one that should dramatically increase production of iPhones and iPads to meet rising demand.

Foxconn is working with the Chinese city of Zhengzhou to double the size of the workforce at its facility there, recruiting an additional 100,000 employees — the same number it hired in 2011. Valued at about $1.1 billion, the expansion would make the factory the largest smartphone production facility in the world.

That should make for a massive increase in production, once hiring is complete. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant currently cranks out about 200,000 iPhones per day, according to reports. So a doubling of its workforce would presumably also increase that number by a factor of two.