Foxconn Abruptly Halts Hiring at iPhone Factory Amid New Lockdown and iPhone 14 Delay Concerns

[MacRumors]

Roughly 24 hours after saying it would ramp up hiring and incentives for new employees, Foxconn, Apple's main iPhone supplier, said today it would abruptly stop hiring new workers for its plant in Zhengzhou, China, after new COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions were imposed on the city of nearly 11 million residents.

Just yesterday, Foxconn was signaling it wanted to hire more workers to meet increased consumer demand, on top of additional demand caused by supply chain constraints for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. Now, South China Morning Post reports that Foxconn has suspended hiring of new workers, saying it could "complicate" production for the iPhone 14 lineup slated to launch in the fall.

The suspension came on the heels of the Taiwanese company's plans earlier this week to boost recruitment by offering higher cash bonuses, the agencies said in posts on Tencent Holdings platform WeChat and ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese version of global hit short video app TikTok.

The move to suspend the hiring of new assembly line workers could complicate the iPhone 14 production schedule of Foxconn, which has run its smartphone and components production in Zhengzhou under a “closed-loop” system that confines employees within its campus.

So far, Apple is not expected to drastically delay the launch of the iPhone 14 series, as it did for the iPhone 12. Unlike the normal timetable, Apple was forced to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 till October 2020, rather than September. DigiTimes has speculated that Apple's supply chain woes could result in a similar scenario this year.

Some parts of Apple's supply chain are on the mend, however. Quanta, Apple's supplier for the MacBook Pro, this week resumed production at its plant in China following some disruptions caused by new lockdowns and restrictions. During its earnings call last week, Apple said it expects supply chain constraints to continue into the next quarter. Tim Cook said that Apple has done a "reasonable job" navigating the supply chain roadblocks.

Article Link: Foxconn Abruptly Halts Hiring at iPhone Factory Amid New Lockdown and iPhone 14 Delay Concerns

 

[Zaft]

Yes these lockdowns have worked so well before….this is just the Chinese government showing its people who’s boss.

 

[EugW]

So far, Apple is not expected to drastically delay the launch of the iPhone 14 series, as it did for the iPhone 12. Unlike the normal timetable, Apple was forced to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 till October 2020, rather than September. DigiTimes has speculated that Apple's supply chain woes could result in a similar scenario this year.

Till today, I didn't realize "till" was a real word. I had always assumed it was an informal short form for "until", but it isn't. It's actually a separate word that has the same meaning as "until".

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Apple, stop relying on China, please. They’re the reasons they’re costing you a loss of dollars now.

Why can't Apple can focus on India and built the new iPhones there?

 

[bassexpander]

Apple, please diversify more. This China relationship is proving too damaging to leave so many eggs in one basket. Apple needs to be building in other places, as not to be caught flat-footed when China attacks Taiwan after it has finished getting its populace used to this war footing they are on under the guise of Covid restrictions.

 

[Zachari]

Time to ramp up production in Texas!

 

[EugW]

Apple, stop relying on China, please. They’re the reasons they’re costing you a loss of dollars now.

Why can't Apple can focus on India and built the new iPhones there?

Part of it is better infrastructure and existing supporting industry in China, as well as strangely enough, more stable government and less corruption.

 

[goodcow]

Apple, please diversify more. This China relationship is proving too damaging to leave so many eggs in one basket. Apple needs to be building in other places, as not to be caught flat-footed when China attacks Taiwan after it has finished getting its populace used to this war footing they are on under the guise of Covid restrictions.

If China attacks Taiwan, the entire global economy will go into depression, since chip manufacturing is done on such a large scale there, and nobody would be about to source them for electronics manufacturing.

It's also difficult to diversify when so much of the entire production chain, parts and suppliers wise, is so consolidated within China.

 

[contacos]

Yes these lockdowns have worked so well before….this is just the Chinese government showing its people who’s boss.

It truly boggles my mind that they are still holding onto the "zero-covid" strategy, like what do they expect? No more tourism? No one getting across the border forever? There will always be some cases, especially the moment you open up again. Nuts

 

[DjanSeriyAnaplian]

Part of it is better infrastructure and existing supporting industry in China, as well as strangely enough, more stable government and less corruption.

Two social credit points have been deposited into your account, spend them wisely citizen!

 

[Bug-Creator]

Yes these lockdowns have worked so well before….this is just the Chinese government showing its people who’s boss.

Off course they don't work well, but what is the other option?

Letting it rip through a population that is either unvaxxed or only got a (mostly) useless Chinese vaccine would overwhelm their public health systems within days.

Why can't Apple can focus on India and built the new iPhones there?

India is a different (worse?) can of worms...

Splitting production should be the idea, but that would also hurt the economics of scale.



But all in all so your new phone (that will look and feel 99% identical to your old phone) will be a few weeks late, aka the sky is falling.

 

[EugW]

China and India...shining examples of fair-pay, human rights and Democracy. Is there no other country in the world capable of building iPhones that parallel our own values?

It's probably best to ask the leaders of those Western companies that move production to places like China and India.

 

[44267547]

China has very very dense population centers. Of course they want to control the outbreaks. They've been through this before with SARs and Avian Flu. This isn't political.

This is a solid post and is completely accurate.

China also takes much more strict precautions it seems than other countries do, and instead of just issuing ‘advisories’, they actually take action. So this seemingly will be the new norm for quite some time until the situation can temper.

 

[Ram65]

Customers will wait regardless when the IPhone 14 comes out . And China knows this

 

[cocky jeremy]

Why are people still pretending covid is a thing? Get over it. It's a cold. Take care of yourself and you'll be fine. People are so weird.

 

[jayducharme]

China also takes much more strict precautions it seems than other countries do, and instead of just issuing ‘advisories’, they actually take action.

The irony of course is that if they had taken this type of action back in 2019, the pandemic might never have happened.

 

[oneMadRssn]

If China attacks Taiwan, the entire global economy will go into depression, since chip manufacturing is done on such a large scale there, and nobody would be about to source them for electronics manufacturing.

I agree with the depression comment, but not because of chip manufacturing specifically.

Of the top 5 largest semiconductor fabs in the world, 3 are in South Korea or Japan. Certainly China and Taiwan have many very important and very large fabs, but it's not so single-sided. Also, between Samsung Austin, ON, NXP, Infineon, Micron, TI, Intel, and GlobalFoundtries, we actually have decent capacity in North America.

The bigger deal, in my opinion, to being cut off from China will be materials. China produces roughly 85% of the world’s rare earth oxides and approximately 90% of rare earth metals, alloys, and permanent magnets.

 

[44267547]

The irony of course is that if they had taken this type of action back in 2019, the pandemic might never have happened.

I suspect there is a lot of stipulations to your post, none of which I can really discuss in here, because that would just turn this thread ‘political’ over tech-talk. (Not that I disagree with you at all.)

 

[KurtWilde]

The irony of course is that if they had taken this type of action back in 2019, the pandemic might never have happened.

They were, they were disappearing any doctor that spoke out and welding apartment building doors shut. They were too late like everyone else.

 

[bLackjackj]

Why are people still pretending covid is a thing?

Maybe because it is! Seriously, people like you in denial are the reason why we will never be able to live without it. Wear a mask, get vaxxed & protect those you actually love & care about.

 

[GDF]

Yes these lockdowns have worked so well before….this is just the Chinese government showing its people who’s boss.

What a horrible Country. I just can’t imagine living in that environment where you have no rights. Wish Apple would pull out and other US companies too. They need to start doing that long term.

 

[EugW]

I agree with the depression comment, but not because of chip manufacturing specifically.

Of the top 5 largest semiconductor fabs in the world, 3 are in South Korea or Japan. Certainly China and Taiwan have many very important and very large fabs, but it's not so single-sided. Also, between Samsung Austin, ON, NXP, Infineon, Micron, TI, Intel, and GlobalFoundtries, we actually have decent capacity in North America.

The bigger deal, in my opinion, to being cut off from China will be materials. China produces roughly 85% of the world’s rare earth oxides and approximately 90% of rare earth metals, alloys, and permanent magnets.

Yeah, but the most advanced semiconductor fabs are in Taiwan. Furthermore, TSMC has more than half of the global foundry revenue marketshare.

It's no surprise that US is nervous about this, and has "encouraged" TSMC to build a fab or two in the US.

 

[zombierunner]

This whole decade is cursed.

 

[everlast3434]

They're still doing lockdowns? LOL 😜

 

[cocky jeremy]

Maybe because it is! Seriously, people like you in denial are the reason why we will never be able to live without it. Wear a mask, get vaxxed & protect those you actually love & care about.

lol. I never wore a mask, never got a vaccine and got covid and it was literally less than my seasonal allergies. If covid affects you that much, maybe you should have thought of your health years or even decades earlier. ?