Taiwanese electronics company and major Apple supplier Foxconn is closing two of its factories in the city of Kushan, China, as COVID-19 cases rise in the region.
According to the South China Morning Post, the factories are close to Shanghai, and in order to avoid the secondary effects of COVID, the city of Kushan has decreed a total lockdown of the city to prevent further pollution. On the surface, this looks like a blow to Apple, but Foxconn says it has it all covered.
Another COVID shutdown
According to another Reuters report, a Foxconn spokesman said production had been moved to other factories and many Apple products were stored in overseas warehouses. So the overall impact on Apple and Foxconn will be minimal, at best.
The same cannot be said for other Foxconn production lines. The manufacture of data transmission equipment and connectors will remain suspended until the Chinese authorities give them the green light to start again.
Despite Foxconn's security, this is not the first time something like this has happened. In March 2022, an outbreak of COVID-19 in the city of Shenzhen caused all production in the region to stop.
This included Foxconn's Longhua and Guanlan factories, where they made products for various tech giants like Apple and Samsung. Incidents like these have occurred almost regularly during the pandemic, such as the May 2021 shutdown.
We've reached out to Apple for comment on the sudden shutdown and its impact on future products and will update this story when it responds.
Production migration
Foxconn recently moved to move iPhone production out of mainland China.
iPad and MacBook production moved to Vietnam in 2020 after Apple specifically requested it due to the US-China trade war. Most recently, Foxconn's factory in Sriperumbudur, India will start producing iPhone 13 devices after getting government clearance.
The future looks bright for Apple and Foxconn, but former employees could find themselves at the end of the stick. For starters, Foxconn closed factories despite the local government allowing 60 companies to reopen production lines.
The employees were also placed under a "closed circuit system," meaning they were confined to their dormitories within Foxconn's two campuses by order of authorities.