Wistron Corp (緯創) yesterday said that production would not resume at its plants in India after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
A three-week lockdown had been scheduled to end yesterday, but in a televised address just hours before the lockdown was set to end, Modi said that it was being extended until May 3, and that the Indian government would evaluate every town, district and state until April 20 for adherence to the lockdown.
Areas that are less likely to turn into a hotspot might be allowed to begin certain essential activities from April 20, Modi said.
“We are complying with local government regulations with regards to the matter… Our production is currently at a standstill,” Wistron public relations director Joyce Chou (周文玲) said by telephone.
The company, which makes older iPhone models — the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 — at two facilities in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, as well as printed circuit boards at a plant in Narasapura, is not the only one among its peers to see its production affected.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Apple Inc’s largest iPhone assembler, has also shuttered its operations in India until further notice.
However, Wistron hopes to resume production soon.
“We have heard from local authorities that the lockdown norms may be relaxed next week … which might mean an earlier recovery of production for us,” Chou said, adding that the company would closely observe the Indian government’s disease prevention measures.
Meanwhile, the production schedule at its plant in Malaysia has also been pushed back after that nation extended its one-month partial lockdown by two more weeks to April 28.
Wistron’s manufacturing facility in Selangor, near Kuala Lumpur, saw production come to a grinding halt on March 18, when the Malaysian government first imposed a nationwide movement-control order.
“We have moved some essential production lines from the Malaysian plant to other overseas facilities to compensate,” Chou said.
Wistron is set to increase investments in China, which contributes about 80 percent of its overall revenue, through purchases of equipment for its Kunshan plant this year.
However, it wants to move more of it production out of China, chairman Simon Lin (林憲銘) has said.
Lin last month said a plant in Vietnam would be up and running next year, producing PCs and monitors.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg and AFP
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
RSS