Apple supplier Foxconn ‘to resume normal productivity as soon as possible’ at key China factory amid Covid-19 outbreak
- Foxconn has been attempting to ‘ensure both employee health and safe production’, chairman said in an analyst call
- Company expects revenue from consumer electronics for three months between October and December to be slightly down from a year earlier
Major Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group told analysts on Thursday that its factory in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou is “making efforts to resume normal productivity as soon as possible”, after a struggle with a Covid-19 outbreak since mid-October.
The plant, which makes the largest number of iPhones in the world and employs more than 200,000 people, has been attempting to “ensure both employee health and safe production”, said company chairman Liu Young-way.
Liu said that demand for high-end iPhones was still strong. Earlier this week, Apple said that the impact from the Covid-19 related disruption at the plant would result in lower-than-anticipated shipments and longer delivery times for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Foxconn iPhone plant keeps Covid lockdown as surrounding areas loosen up
Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, on Thursday reported net income of NT$38.8 billion (US$1.2 billion), up 5 per cent, while revenue rose 24 per cent to NT$1.75 trillion.
Shares in the Taiwan-listed Foxconn dropped nearly 2 per cent to NT$100.5 on Thursday.
The Zhengzhou city district on Wednesday announced an end to a week-long lockdown for areas that do not include the factory. Instead, it labelled an area that surrounds the 5.6-million-square-metre factory as a “temporary control area to avoid spillover”.
Residents there cannot leave residential compounds, and they may be confined to their flats if there has been a new case in the past week. The local authorities did not specify how long the measures will last.
