Apple’s supplier and manufacturing partner, Foxconn has pledged to resume normal production in China, its top manufacturing base by the end of March 2020.
Foxconn disclosed this after Apple’s declaration of a 10% drop in share price, as a result of the fall in the production of electronics and other devices in the first quarter.
Apple had warned that its revenue could drop by more than 15% if Foxconn failed to resume operations soon. The company said it did not expect to see any revenue growth in the first half and made a “mild downward revision” from its original guidance of “slight growth” for the year due to the coronavirus.
Any delay from Foxconn, according to the Apple statement, could cloud the timeline for the release of new Apple I-phones; as Apple, had weeks earlier, rescinded its March quarter sales guidance, citing a slower ramp-up of manufacturing in China among other reasons.
Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said in a stock exchange filing that revenue fell to T$217.5 billion ($7.28 billion) in February. This marked the biggest monthly drop in revenue in about seven years in February owing to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Reuters reported that theTaiwanese company, which assembles Apple’s iPhones, witnessed its revenue slide 18.1% in February compared with a year earlier – the biggest monthly fall since March 2013 and the third consecutive month of decline.
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Foxconn is among the manufacturers worldwide grappling with virus-related restrictions that have disrupted supply chains and diminished demand. Foxconn also services other top technology companies like Acer Inc., Amazon, Dell, Cisco, BlackBerry Ltd, Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Google, Intel, Sony, and Toshiba.
Foxconn Technology Group is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer with its headquarters in Tucheng, New Taipei City, Taiwan, China. It is the world’s largest provider of electronics manufacturing services and the fourth-largest information technology company by revenue. Foxconn is the largest private employer in Taiwan and one of the largest employers worldwide.
