Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), an assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said its Chinese workers did not start the Lunar New Year holiday earlier than usual.
“We did not begin the holiday in the middle of December last year as some reports said,” a Foxconn investor relations official said by telephone.
Foxconn’s remarks came after several Chinese and foreign media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, reported that the firm started sending workers home early for the Lunar New Year holiday last month — two months early — as Apple is scaling down orders due to poor sales of iPhone 6S handsets.
The reports said the Zengzhou City Government is to offer Foxconn 80 million yuan (US$12.13 million) in subsidies to minimize the scale of Foxconn’s layoffs at its Zengzhou plant.
Foxconn, which is known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) in Taiwan, said it had received financial incentives from the city government as a reward for providing employment in the Henan Province in 2014, adding that it was among 135 companies that qualified for the incentives.
“It [80 million yuan] is not a subsidy to prevent Foxconn from conducting mass layoffs at the plant,” the official said.
The company is planning operational schedules for the Lunar New Year holiday, the official said, adding that they would comply with Chinese regulations.
“With enough personnel, Foxconn can arrange flexible work shifts so every worker to have a normal holiday,” the official said.
Pegatron Corp (和碩), another assembler of iPhones, said its Chinese employees would have the usual Lunar New Year holiday break.
“There is too much noise in the market at the moment. Some reports are one-sided and inaccurate,” a Pegatron investor relations official said.
Foxconn and Pegatron declined to comment on reports saying Apple has trimmed its order forecast for iPhone models.
Taipei-based Digitimes Research yesterday forecast that iPhone shipments last quarter might increase by a single-digit percentage from a year earlier, but the shipments for this quarter could drop by 10.1 percent annually, as iPhone 6S has lost its appeal.
Hon Hai shares dropped 0.89 percent to NT$78.3, while Pegatron shares plunged 3.24 percent to close at NT$65.7 in Taipei trading yesterday. The TAIEX fell 1.73 percent.
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