<p>Taiwanese contract manufacturer, Foxconn, has halted hiring activities at its Shenzhen plant which makes gadgets such as Apple iPhone 5 device, and slowed down recruitment at other Chinese factories. The company, however, has flatly denied weak iPhone 5 demand prompted the move.</p><p>"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday, compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," Foxconn said in a statement, according to a Reuters report Thursday. "This action is not related to any single customer, and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."Foxconn denies it slowed hiring at Chinese factories due to weaker-than-expected demand for iPhone 5.</p><p>The report said the comment was a response to a Financial Times report on Wednesday which said the Taiwanese manufacturer had imposed a hiring freeze in China as it saw slowing production of iPhone 5.</p><p>Foxconn, which is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, runs a network of factories in China which make products for several tech companies including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/cn/foxconn-denies-weak-iphone-demand-led-to-hiring-freeze-7000011611/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-02-20/apple-declines-after-assembler-foxconn-stops-hiring">Apple Falls After IPhone Builder Foxconn Halts Hiring</a> (Businessweek)</p><p><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/21/foxconn-denies-iphone-link-as-it-freezes-china-hiring/">Foxconn denies iPhone link as it freezes China hiring</a> (Raw Story)</p><p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/foxconn-stops-hiring-in-china-iphone-decline_n_2725826.html">Foxconn Stops Hiring In China As Experts Worry About iPhone 5 Decline</a> (Huffington Post)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dP1rrSQb3eeCrhMr4ZW2iIKSr2RaM&ned=us">128 additional articles.</a></p>