iPad and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn has admitted to employing children as young as 14 at its factory in the city of Yantai in eastern China.

The Taiwan-based company, which has seen workers riot in recent weeks, admitted in a statement that some students who took part in its summer internship were below the Chinese legal minimum working age of 16.

Foxconn has previously been accused on several occasions of the mistreatment of workers who are involved in the production of the iPad and iPhone, along with many other electronic devices for companies such as Microsoft and HP.

The statement said: "We recognise that full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologised to each of the students for our role in this action.”

"Any Foxconn employee found, through our investigation, to be responsible for these violations will have their employment immediately terminated."

Foxconn added: "Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks.”

"This is not only a violation of China's labour law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions."

Earlier this month, between 3,000 and 4,000 Foxconn workers walked out stating the company.

The hiring of child workers was discovered with the help of an internal investigation after Chinese media reports and a US-based campaign group called China Labor Watch had said about the underage employees.

To contact the editor, e-mail: