Feng Tay Enterprises Co Ltd (豐泰), a supplier for Nike Inc, on Saturday temporarily shut down four factories in Vietnam, its biggest manufacturing base, for about a week amid COVID-19 lockdowns, it said yesterday.
Feng Tay is the latest in a slew of local manufacturers with operations in Vietnam that have suspended operations as the country grapples with its worst outbreak of COVID-19.
Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業), the world’s largest manufacturer of branded athletic and casual footwear, last week said that it had suspended operations at its plant in Ho Chi Minh City, as virus restrictions shuttered factories in the business hub through Friday. Pou Chen manufactures footwear for companies such as Nike and Adidas AG.
Photo: AP
Feng Tay halted operations at its major subsidiaries in Vietnam — Dona Victor Footwear Co, Dona Pacific (Vietnam) Co, Vietnam Dona Orient Co and Dona Victor Molds Manufacturing Co — through Friday, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company, based in Yunlin County’s Douliou City (斗六), said that the Vietnamese government has imposed stringent travel curbs in the Ho Lai and Pac Son areas, hindering some employees from working in the region.
Feng Tay would continue enhancing COVID-19 measures to prevent infections, it added.
Vietnam is Feng Tay’s biggest footwear manufacturing base, accounting for 52 percent of its total capacity, according to investors’ conference presentation material.
Last year, the Vietnamese factories produced 63 million pairs of sneakers, making up 56 percent of Feng Tay’s overall shipments of 112 million pairs.
Feng Tay last year shipped 9 percent fewer shoes than in 2019 as COVID-19-related restrictions in India forced the company to suspend production there for 37 days, leading to a 29 percent reduction in shipments annually from its Indian factories.
Feng Tay’s second-biggest manufacturing base is India, which contributes 26 percent to the company’s total capacity.
In May, Feng Tay shut down Indian factories for 18 days again due to outbreaks there.
Shoemaker Sports Gear Co (志強國際) yesterday also said it would suspend production at its Vietnamese factories for 14 days to Aug. 2 at the request of local governments.
The company plans to disinfect all factory areas during the period to help prevent COVID-19 infections, it said in a regulatory filing.
“As the third quarter is usually a slow season, the company would allocate production [from other factories] to reduce” the effects of the closures, Sports Gear said.
Textile supplier Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻), which counts Nike and Under Armour Inc among its customers, said it would extend shutdowns started on Saturday at its Vietnamese facilities to Friday.
Other Taiwanese companies with operations in Vietnam — including golf club producer Advanced International Multitech Co Ltd (明安國際), home decor manufacturer Ching Feng Home Fashions Co Ltd (慶豐富), bicycle components maker SR Suntour Inc (榮輪科技), Headway Advanced Materials Inc (展宇科技材料), Evertop Wire Cable Corp (億泰電線電纜) and King Chou Marine Technology Co Ltd (金洲海洋科技) — also said that they would suspend production at their Vietnamese units for up to two weeks.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS