There have recently been violent clashes between workers and emergency services around the world’s largest iPhone factory due to the strict corona measures. This also has consequences for the production capacity.
According to insiders, Apple supplier Foxconn will not be able to fully restart production in China before Christmas. The world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, will probably not reach full production capacity again until the turn of the year after the unrest in connection with the very restrictive Chinese corona policy, said a person familiar with the matter.
Foxconn itself admitted that production problems in the wake of the corona pandemic caused sales to fall by 11.4 percent in November. Foxconn, a central service provider for Apple, is now hiring new employees and is gradually reducing production capacities to a “normal level”, the tech giant said. In November, however, the group’s division, which also manufactures smartphones, was adversely affected by problems in production at the Zhengzhou plant.
Because of the renewed corona outbreaks in China, the Foxconn plant has been operating in a so-called closed cycle for weeks. This means that the approximately 200,000 employees live and work on the site, isolated from the outside world. The measures fueled dissatisfaction among the workers, protests and riots broke out, and many fled.
According to analysts, Foxconn manufactures around 70 percent of iPhones – the factory in the central Chinese industrial metropolis mainly produces iPhone 14 models. New workers would now be hired for the plant, an insider said. If this runs smoothly, the site can be back in full production in three to four weeks. Foxconn is working with local authorities, but there are still uncertainties. Because many people were afraid to work at the plant after the riots. Foxconn declined to comment.
