Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Apple Inc’s largest iPhone assembler, yesterday said it has received approval from the Chinese government to resume production at its plant in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, Reuters reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Although the company, which is internationally known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), last week said it aimed to resume full production in China by yesterday, only about 16,000 employees, or less than 10 percent of its workforce, have returned to work at the Zhengzhou plant.
Hon Hai issued a statement saying it was working with Chinese local governments to resume production in an orderly manner.
The company, which hopes to restart production at its plants in Shenzhen and Kunshan, Guandong Province, said it would follow rules set by local governments and that employee safety is its top priority.
Its Shenzhen plant, which is responsible for developing Apple’s new iPhone models, which are expected to be launched in the second half of the year, is set to resume about 30 to 50 percent of production in a week’s time given the circumstances, TF International Securities Group Co (天風國際證券) analyst Kuo Ming-chi (郭明錤) said in a report on Sunday.
Kuo said Hon Hai is seeking to expand production at its Taiyuan plant in China’s Shanxi Province, as well as its Indian plants to make up for the delays.
The company yesterday reported an 11.96 percent year-on-year fall in revenue last month to NT$364.57 billion (US$12.11 billion).
Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) last week trimmed the company’s full-year revenue forecast to growth of 1 to 3 percent due to the production delays.
Another iPhone assembler, Pegatron Corp (和碩), is also facing challenges in resuming its China production, Kuo said.
Its Shanghai plant, which produces Apple’s iPhone 11 series while also serving as a development center for upcoming models, has resumed 90 percent of its production on Monday last week, Kuo said.
However, production at its Kunshan plant, which is focused on developing a second-generation iPhone SE, was delayed by a few days and has not recovered about 40 to 60 percent of its workforce, Kuo said.
The company declined to comment about its individual plants, saying it is complying with local regulations as it resumes business operations and production.
Pegatron saw a 22 percent year-on-year decline in sales to NT$95.65 billion last month.
Contract electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp (緯創), also an Apple supplier, yesterday said it is resuming production at its China plants successively.
“We have obtained approval from local authorities to launch production for some of our plants today [yesterday],” public relations director Joyce Chou (周文玲) said by telephone, adding that other plants are awaiting official notice.
“Each part of a production plant, including the cafeteria, is sectioned off, cleaned and sterilized before a thorough examination,” Chou said.
Other plants that have not ceased production during the Lunar New Year holiday are allowed to continue, Chou said.
Taiwan-based PC original design manufacturers have also encountered production delays.
Inventec Corp (英業達), which saw sales month decline 35.39 percent to NT$29.38 billion, said it has only resumed part of its production in China.
“Some of our employees have been quarantined and placed under surveillance... Our new recruits are also subject to such anti-epidemic measures,” a company official surnamed Chang (張) said in an e-mail.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) yesterday resumed production across its China plants, the Chinese-language news site Cnyes.com said.
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