Foxconn Suspends Production In Shenzhen Due To COVID-19 Lockdown

The tech industry is facing the possibility of yet another major supply chain issue as the Shenzhen local government has ordered all non-essential businesses to suspend operations from 14 until 20 March following a COVID-19 outbreak in China. Local authorities have also suspended all public transport services and will be conducting PCR tests on the entire population, numbering over 17 million residents.

On Sunday, China reported more than 1,800 cases across the country, with 60 of them in Shenzhen. While the number may seem minuscule, the country has a very strict zero-COVID policy which may have triggered the massive countermeasure.

Located next to Hong Kong, Shenzhen is not only the home to major Chinese tech companies such as Huawei, OPPO, OnePlus, DJI, ZTE, and many more, but also hosts many factories that belong to large-scale tech suppliers and contract manufacturers. Among them is Foxconn, which has a long list of clients including Apple and Samsung.

Foxconn’s facilities in Shenzhen is reportedly the company’s second-largest manufacturing hub, which conducts many early engineering prototyping and research and development work. Its touch panel subsidiary, General Interface Solution (GIS) Holding, said while it similarly had to pause production in Shenzhen, the company is allocating some production to other facilities.

(Source: Nikkei.)