Taiwan-based publication Digitimes recently reported that the Cupertino company is changing the production of its iPhone to Taiwan because of the recent coronavirus outbreak. The report also claims that Apple stopped sending its engineers to China, who conduct the Engineering Validation Test or EVT of the iPhone 12 development. In Jan. 2019, the Cupertino company restricted travel to the country and only allowed business-critical trips because of the coronavirus outbreak, which started in Wuhan in China.
iPhone Production in Taiwan
The Cupertino company is looking into shifting more iPhone production in Taiwan, according to Digitimes. These iPhones are reportedly set to arrive in the first half of the year. The report explained that the company is considering the need to diversify the risks caused by the recent production disruption in China.
Unfortunately, Digitimes did not go into details about this possible move from Apple. But, it reflects Apple's level of confidence in its production facilities in China. It's possible that the company would like to be ready to mitigate the risk in case China would not be able to resolve the health crisis in the region.
Foxconn Restarting Half Of China's Production Facilities
Foxconn, Apple's production arm in China, is working to return to its production capabilities to half by the end of the month, according to a new report. This move would regain the crucial supply lines of the company after being temporarily shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak. According to Reuters, people familiar with Foxconn's plan, the company aims to restore at least 50 percent of all its operations in China to active status by Feb.
The report also mentioned that Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-Way was hoping to achieve 80 percent of its China production sometime in Mar. 2020. Foxconn is not alone in its issue with production in the country. Other facilities and production plants also suffered from low capacity or temporary shutdown because of concerns of coronavirus outbreak.
When the coronavirus outbreak started, Foxconn was optimistic that it would not affect its manufacturing and production operations. It even planned to resume its operation on Feb. 10. However, it was reported that the health department of the country blocked the reopening because of some concerns about the production facilities' setting, which could put its employees at risk to the virus.
Pegatron, another Apple supplier, also experienced setbacks in China. One of its facilities in China, reportedly in charge of the production of the iPhone SE 2, delayed its operation to Feb. 10 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
