Apple Supplier Foxconn Forced to Suspend Operations in Shenzhen Due to Lockdown

[MacRumors]

Apple's leading supplier, Foxconn, has been forced to suspend operations in Shenzhen, China, following a city-wide lockdown that sees nonessential businesses close, public transportation halted, and residents advised not to leave their home unless for essential activities only.

As Nikkei Asia reports:

Shenzhen is home to major tech companies such as Huawei, Oppo and TCL, and is also one of the biggest manufacturing hubs for Taiwan's Foxconn, supplying clients from Apple to Google to Amazon. The semi-lockdown comes as the global supply chain is still struggling with an ongoing chip shortage, as well as disruptions from the war in Ukraine.

Foxconn, the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer, said in a statement on Monday that it would suspend production at its Longhua and Guanlan factories in Shenzhen until further notice from the local government. It has activated plans to use facilities in other cities to support production.

It is not entirely clear what devices Foxconn produces for Apple at its two Shenzhen plants, but Foxconn is the largest maker of the iPhone. The new lockdown adds strain to an already crippled global supply chain that's impacting Apple's business.

Apple said the chip shortage cost it $6 billion in the last quarter of 2021, with bullish views on the impact the shortage will have in the coming quarters. Apple is planning a slew of new product launches around the world next week, including the all-new Mac Studio, Studio Display, new iPhone SE, iPad Air, and new colors of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.





Article Link: Apple Supplier Foxconn Forced to Suspend Operations in Shenzhen Due to Lockdown

 

[kahkityoong]

Good news for my wallet

 

[JippaLippa]

It's a very nasty situation.
Personally I had been waiting years to renew my work setup and I'm so glad I have gotten a new mac and iPhone within the last 4 months, as I knew there were going to be massive shortages in 2022.

 

[steve09090]

Good news for my wallet

I’m sure Apple has planned for these disruptions. Wallets still aren’t safe!

 

[contacos]

And the US still claims the pandemic is over haha

 

[LFC2020]

Waiting for  8” foldable iPhone, wallet is safe for a couple more years.

 

[iDron]

And the US still claims the pandemic is over haha

China is the only country continuing with 'zero covid', with zero success...

 

[Marbles1]

Apple needs to continue efforts to diversify production even if it eats into their profits / pricing. Relying so much on one country and that country being China is surely a massive risk. There are many other lower cost locations with a technical base which apple can encourage Foxconn to expand into in the long term - India, Vietnam, even Turkey.

It would be nice to be able to buy an Apple product that wasn't manufactured in a regime like China's.

 

[contacos]

China is the only country continuing with 'zero covid', with zero success...

I am not saying it is right, I am just saying there are still a lot of places in the world with a lot of restrictions. Ironically (Germany where I live) currently has the highest and rising infection rate of Europe while at the same time having the most restrictions. It is like the government feels like they need to justify freedom instead of having to justify restrictions. I hate it here sometimes.

 

[Solomani]

And the US still claims the pandemic is over haha

Well... depends which "surge" the Chinese are experiencing. Is Shenzen still being ravaged by Omicron? Most of the USA has already passed the Omicron peak, and now is in the declining stage.

The news article(s) doesn't really give us any epidemiology details regarding the Shenzen lockdown. We don't know. Is it Omicron? Or is is some scary NEW variant... which may ravage and shut down the USA economy a few months down the line?

 

[cosmichobo]

Tangentially...

What happens when China decides to invade Taiwan? (As plenty of analysts are saying that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely emboldening Xi Jinping on his own goals of "reunification"...)

Is Apple/Tim going to balls-up and say - no more trading, and thus - say goodbye to the majority of its manufacture arm?

 

[TechRunner]

“It’s deja vu all over again.” - Yogi Berra

 

[XXPP]

China is the only country continuing with 'zero covid', with zero success...

Millions saved lives is not success?

 

[headlessmike]

Tangentially...

What happens when China decides to invade Taiwan? (As plenty of analysts are saying that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely emboldening Xi Jinping on his own goals of "reunification"...)

Is Apple/Tim going to balls-up and say - no more trading, and thus - say goodbye to the majority of its manufacture arm?

China and the US are so dependent on each other financially that both would be seriously affected by one boycotting the other. It's very different from the relations between, e.g., the US and Russia. That said, who knows what would happen.

 

[x5tuu]

Well... depends which "surge" the Chinese are experiencing. Is Shenzen still being ravaged by Omicron? Most of the USA has already passed the Omicron peak, and now is in the declining stage.

The news article(s) doesn't really give us any epidemiology details regarding the Shenzen lockdown. We don't know. Is it Omicron? Or is is some scary NEW variant... which may ravage and shut down the USA economy a few months down the line?

China is still seeing Omicron B1 infections, it took a while for it reach their shores (officially). UK / Europe and the US to some extent are now seeing BA2 which will equally if not more infectious are lesser in risk and impact and much more cold-flu-like than B1 which itself was minimal in terms of risk.

 

[senttoschool]

Tangentially...

What happens when China decides to invade Taiwan? (As plenty of analysts are saying that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely emboldening Xi Jinping on his own goals of "reunification"...)

Is Apple/Tim going to balls-up and say - no more trading, and thus - say goodbye to the majority of its manufacture arm?

Well, China sees Taiwan as its own. So China wouldn't call it an invasion. To China, it's as if California Alaska wants to break away from the US and the federal government sends military forces to ensure that it doesn't happen.

Now imagine if that happens and China sends weapons to Alaskans and sends forces to defend California Alaska from the US government. That's actually how the Chinese government and people see the situation. Is it right or wrong? I don't know. That's not for me to decide. But that's how it is.

Fun fact: Taiwan officially claims the entirety of China as its own as well (Taiwan officially calls itself "Republic of China"). And if Taiwan was more powerful than China, it might try to retake China too.

But since the western media is so anti-China (probably due to racism and economic threat), people only hear one side. Most people making statements about China have no idea about the history and why things are the way it is.

 

[Breaking Good]

But since the western media is so anti-China (probably due to racism and economic threat)…

Maybe people are finally waking up to the fact it doesn’t matter if it is China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, democratic countries should not allow their economies to become dependent on totalitarian regimes.

 

[krakman]

But since the western media is so Anti-China (probably due to racism and economic threat), people only hear one side.

The problem is Communist dictators put themselves in positions of absolute power and as the phrase goes "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"

 

[George Dawes]

If they had robots making this stuff there’d be no excuses

 

[Mr Fusion]

China is the only country continuing with 'zero covid', with zero success...

They have no choice. Their vaccines are as good as an injection of saline.

The world's smallest violin plays for these corporations (Apple included) who moved the bulk of their manufacturing to China. They reaped plenty of benefits pre-Covid. Don't feel sorry for them when the music stops.

 

[senttoschool]

The problem is Communist dictators put themselves in positions of absolute power and as the phrase goes "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"

Let China's people decide what government they want. Their government has pulled 1.4 billion people out of poverty and on the way towards the biggest economy in the world. It still has high approval ratings. The East Asian culture has always been willing to sacrifice personal freedom for stability.

There is a long history of Chinese people overthrowing governments that no longer work for them. In fact, they've been doing it for thousands of years before the US even existed. The US doesn't need to interfere in everything.

A democracy like the one in the US probably wouldn't work in China anyways due to culture, history, and population size.

Check out India. It's a democracy but it's still corrupt as hell and its economic growth and internal stability haven't been close to China's. In 1990, India had a higher GDP per capita than China. Now China's is 5x higher than India's.

People in the US shouldn't try to dictate how 1.4 billion people should live and be governed. The US has always tried to dictate how other countries should operate by trying to install new governments (sometimes a democracy and sometimes a dictator) - usually with an economic goal that benefits the US. China doesn't want that because European colonialism messed China up for 100 years (google "Century of humiliation").

Let China be China. Just focus on USA problems.

 

[GuruZac]

And the US still claims the pandemic is over haha

It is, other than for the most vulnerable. As has been the case from the get go. For those people, mask (N95) and vaccinate. For everyone else, life must go on.

 

[GuruZac]

And the US still claims the pandemic is over haha

It is, other than for the most vulnerable. As has been the case from the get go. For those people, mask (N95) and vaccinate. For everyone else, life must go on.

 

[GuruZac]

Let China's people decide what government they want. Their government has pulled 1.4 billion people out of poverty and on the way towards the biggest economy in the world. It still has high approval ratings. The East Asian culture has always been willing to sacrifice personal freedom for stability.

There is a long history of Chinese people overthrowing governments that no longer work for them. In fact, they've been doing it for thousands of years before the US even existed. The US doesn't need to interfere in everything.

A democracy like the one in the US probably wouldn't work in China anyways due to culture, history, and population size.

Check out India. It's a democracy but it's still corrupt as hell and its economic growth and internal stability haven't been close to China's.

People in the US shouldn't try to dictate how 1.4 billion people should live and be governed. The US has always tried to dictate how other countries should operate - usually with an economic goal that benefits the US. China doesn't want that. It's fine. Let China be China. Just focus on USA problems.

They aren’t. And it’s convenient China‘s government has a high approval rating when the people are heavily censored and monitored.

 

[q64ceo]

Let China's people decide what government they want. Their government has pulled 1.4 billion people out of poverty and on the way towards the biggest economy in the world. It still has high approval ratings. The East Asian culture has always been willing to sacrifice personal freedom for stability.

There is a long history of Chinese people overthrowing governments that no longer work for them. In fact, they've been doing it for thousands of years before the US even existed. The US doesn't need to interfere in everything.

A democracy like the one in the US probably wouldn't work in China anyways due to culture, history, and population size.

Check out India. It's a democracy but it's still corrupt as hell and its economic growth and internal stability haven't been close to China's.

People in the US shouldn't try to dictate how 1.4 billion people should live and be governed. The US has always tried to dictate how other countries should operate - usually with an economic goal that benefits the US. China doesn't want that. It's fine. Let China be China. Just focus on USA problems.

This. Not every country can be a democracy.