Tue, Apr 19, 2022 page12

• Quanta restarts Shanghai production

  SLOW START: While some firms, including Tesla, are operating again, staff are working in closed loops and there are logistical bottlenecks, so production is not at full capacity

  • Staff writer, with CNA
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), an assembler of Apple Inc’s MacBooks, has partially resumed operations in Shanghai after a surge in COVID-19 cases led to lockdowns in the city.

  The Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City (QSMC, 廣達上海製造城), Quanta’s manufacturing base in Shanghai, on Friday resumed production with about 2,000 staff members working in a closed-loop management system, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

  Production at its F1 and F3 factories, which make laptops for Apple and accessories for Tesla Inc respectively, was under way, the report said.

  

  The Quanta Computer Inc logo is pictured outside the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Linkou District on March 30, 2020.

  Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times

  The resumption means that 5 percent of QSMC’s 40,000 employees across eight factories in Shanghai have returned to work.

  Quanta, the world’s biggest contract laptop manufacturer, on Wednesday announced that its subsidiary, Tech-Com (Shanghai) Computer Ltd (達功上海電腦), had halted production in response to the Shanghai city government’s introduction of COVID-19 prevention measures.

  As Shanghai struggles to contain its worst COVID-19 outbreak in two years, disease prevention restrictions continue to put pressure on China’s economy.

  To tackle the issue, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Friday unveiled a white list of 666 companies in sectors including automobiles, semiconductors, consumer electronics, food, equipment manufacturing, medicine and foreign trade for which priority would be given to resume production in Shanghai.

  Companies applying to resume work must stock up on medical supplies and establish closed loops for workers, who must live at their workplace or be limited to traveling between work and home, guidance issued on Saturday said.

  Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), whose production in Shanghai’s Songjiang District is on the list, on Sunday said that its operations in the city had not been halted.

  Also on the list are Taiwan-based IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co’s (日月光投控) Shanghai factory, as well as Unimos Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co (紫光宏茂微電子上海), a company formed after China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Co (清華紫光) acquired a major share of Taiwan-based ChipMOS Technologies Inc’s (南茂科技) Shanghai subsidiary.

  At least 30 Taiwanese firms, most of which make electronic components, on Wednesday said that the Chinese government’s COVID-19 control measures in eastern China had led them to suspend production, Reuters reported.

  Despite the white list of priority companies, logistical bottlenecks persist due to closures ordered by authorities in other cities, as well as port and trucking disruptions.

  An unnamed executive at a listed pharmaceutical firm told Shanghai Securities News that it was unclear how to transport goods, return orders or collect bills when resuming work given the ongoing curbs.

  “These are real problems that the policy still needs to address,” the newspaper quoted them as saying.

  Meanwhile, Tesla has restarted production at its Shanghai factory and laid out stringent measures for staff operating in the closed-loop system after a weeks-long suspension, people familiar with the matter said.

  The electric vehicle maker’s Shanghai plant was producing about 2,100 vehicles a day, churning out 182,174 in the first quarter.

  Ramping production back up from such a long shutdown would not be an instant process.

  Tesla only has inventory for just more than two weeks based on its new closed-loop schedule, and logistics are a major problem for many other parts, another person familiar with the matter said.

  Additional reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese carrier group entered Japanese waters

  • 2

    Taiwan in Time: Snapshots of early Japanese-era Taipei

  • 3

    Think tank hosts war games in Taipei

  • 4

    Students rescued from Cambodia

  • 5

    Vigilance urged after five reported snakebite cases