Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the biggest assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, rose more than 3 percent yesterday on news the company aims to resume half of its output in virus-hit China by the end of this month.
The company, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) outside of Taiwan, hopes to resume half of its production in China by the end of the month, a source said.
The world’s largest contract electronics maker also aims to resume 80 percent of production in China next month, said the source, who has direct knowledge of the matter, citing internal targets set by chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉).
Hon Hai’s plant reopenings in China after the Lunar New Year holiday were delayed by the rapid spread of COVID-19.
“Chairman Liu hopes by end of February the production could reach 50 percent,” the source said.
“Shipments will be affected, but it’s too early to give an exact number,” the source said.
“We might still have a chance to make it with overtime, but we also need to monitor consumer sentiment to come for the end products,” the source added, referring to electronics, including smartphones.
The company did not immediately respond to e-mail and telephone calls to seek comment.
Hon Hai on Monday received the green light to reopen two major plants in China, and its plant in Kunshan was approved on Tuesday to resume production, an internal document reviewed by Reuters showed.
However, just about one-10th of the workforce had returned to the plants in Shenzhen and Henan Province’s Zhengzhou as of Monday, a source said.
The two plants make up the bulk of Hon Hai’s assembly lines for Apple Inc’s iPhones and further delays to production after the enforced closures could hit global shipments of the smartphones.
Apple had previously estimated first-quarter revenue in a wider range than usual to factor in uncertainty over the virus.
Shares of Hon Hai yesterday gained 3.14 percent in afternoon trade to close at NT$85.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, outperforming a gain of 0.94 percent on the TAIEX.
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