FOXCONN'S founder and Chairman Terry Guo has said the Taiwan technology giant will not ax workers next year when it adds 300,000 robots to the assembly line.

Guo said in Shenzhen over the weekend that Foxconn will produce robots next year at a rate of some 1,000 a day to do routine and more risky jobs to raise the company's productivity.

The robots will not affect current staff, he said, pledging no job cuts next year even though the global manufacturing sector is depressed and the economic prospect uncertain.

In July, Guo said Foxconn would replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency. He said the robots would be used for simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling.

Foxconn, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, has nearly 1.2 million employees at Chinese mainland plants.