iPhone production in India may get hit as Shenzhen goes under COVID-19 lockdown
India Today
India relies highly on components that come from Shenzhen for the local manufacturing of iPhones. As per experts, if the COVID-19 restrictions are extended beyond March 20, India may see a muted Q1 2022 and a slow start to Q2 2022.
Just when we thought the pandemic was over and life could get back to normal after nearly two years in lockdown, new COVID-19 cases are being recorded in China. The neighboring country has imposed a lockdown on the city of Changchun, which has nearly nine million residents. Complying with the government order, Apple supplier Foxconn has paused operations at its Shenzhen plant amid the rising COVID-19 cases.
“The operation of Foxconn in Shenzhen, China has been suspended from March 14 onwards in compliance with the local government's new COVID-19 policy,” the Taiwanese company said in an official statement. Foxconn has not specified the duration of the suspension, but it is likely to be in line with the government order. The Chinese government has suspended non-essential businesses in Shenzhen until March 20.
Foxconn has its China headquarters in Shenzhen and a key manufacturing site in Guanlan. The iPhone-maker has suspended operations on both campuses and, as an alternative, reallocated production to other sites in order to reduce the impact of the disruptions.
While the restrictions are currently limited to Shenzhen, experts believe that if the lockdown gets extended further than March 20, it may impact iPhone production in the country.
The Foxconn plant in India is situated in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, with over 17,000 workers. Currently, iPhone models like iPhone 12, iPhone 11, and iPhone XR are assembled at the Foxconn, Chennai plant.
India relies highly on components that come from Shenzhen for the local manufacturing of iPhones. As per experts, if the COVID-19 restrictions are extended beyond March 20, India may see a muted Q1 2022 and a slow start to Q2 2022.
Speaking to India Today Tech, Tarun Pathak, Research Director/Telecom Analyst at Counterpoint Research said that “currently, the situation is evolving but India does have reliability on components that come from Shenzhen. If this extends beyond March 20, then we will have a muted Q1 and a slow start to Q2”. Foxconn, like other electronics manufacturing services (EMS) in India, depends on sourcing components from China. Hence, the lockdown may impact local manufacturing.
