Quote: Foxconn has confirmed it will employ one million robots over the next three years to replace human labor, Economic Information Daily reported Friday.
"Large numbers of robots will inevitably replace some humans in the short term," said Xie Gang, a professor at School of Information Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology.
"Robots are more accurate and adaptive than workers," Xie said, adding that decreasing labor cost is of vital concern to Foxconn.
However, the vice-chairman of Shanxi Federation of Industrial Economics told Economic Information Daily that it is a large-scale investment for Foxconn to produce robots in such a big amount.
In addition, some experts believe robots cost much more and are not effective to develop even for a powerful company like Foxconn.
Foxconn is one of the largest corporations in the electronic assembling industry in China and has been plagued by scandal in the past over the treatment of employees.
It suffered a string of suicides by young workers at its massive Chinese plants with some blamed on working pressure.
Foxconn to have 1 million robot workers|Society|chinadaily.com.cn
Young Foxconn workers would be trained to operate the robot machinery.