Foxconn Boss Says Suicides 'Not Our Fault'

The boss of technology manufacturer Foxconn says suicides at his factories were caused by workers' "personal relationships and family disputes" - and not because of working conditions.

Between 2010 and 2012, a number of suicides and attempted suicides by workers at the Chinese company made headlines.

At a meeting with investors, chief executive Terry Gou said that with 470,000 workers, scale alone made a number of suicides inevitable.

He added that 90% of the suicides "had to do with personal relationships or because of family disputes".

Referring to Foxconn's largest business unit, Hon Hai, Mr Gou said: "If it's bad for Hon Hai it's also bad for me."

The company has manufactured everything from iPads and iPhones for Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , to PlayStation and Xbox for Sony and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) .

During the shareholder meeting, he also reassured investors that he was trying to reinvent the company to reach beyond product assembly.

The company has hired thousands of researchers to look at cloud computing services and electric cars.

He also hinted at an attempt to strike a manufacturing deal with Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) , which now owns virtual reality technology Oculus Rift.