Apple has told some of its contract manufacturers that it wants to boost production outside China, citing Beijing's strict anti-Covid policy among other reasons, people involved in the discussions said.

China's leading smartphone makers have told suppliers to scale back orders for the coming quarters by around 20% from previous plans following monthlong COVID lockdowns that have severely disrupted supply chains and battered consumer confidence, Nikkei Asia has learned.

Chinese tech stocks slumped as weak corporate earnings coupled with a dimming global growth outlook intensified selling.

The top five corporate customers were Apple, Best Buy, Deutsche Telecom, Qualcomm, and Supreme Electronics, and these big clients accounted for about 14% of the company's total sales, according to a business report released by Samsung Electronics on May 16.

Toyota says it will suspend operations at more production lines at its factories in Japan this month due to the coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai.

Tesla has halted most of its production at its Shanghai plant due to problems securing parts for its electric vehicles, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the latest in a series of difficulties for the factory.

Shanghai is expected to open up gradually, following a brutal lockdown.

Texas Instruments tumbled in late trading Tuesday after China's ongoing Covid-19 lockdowns crimped the company's sales and profit forecasts, with the restrictions idling factories and slowing shipments.

Toyota and Volkswagen are gradually bringing their China factories back on line after they were closed for weeks because of COVID lockdowns.

China's quarterly production of semiconductors shrunk for the first time since early 2019 as consumer electronics demand softened and Covid-triggered lockdowns in regions including Shanghai disrupted output.

Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its "dynamic clearance" approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Shipments of some Apple products, as well as Dell and Lenovo laptops are likely to face delays if China's COVID-19 lockdowns persist, analysts say, as curbs force assemblers to shut down and closed-loop arrangements get harder to maintain.

Chinese automakers may have to halt production in May if shutdowns persist in the Shanghai area, said the chief executive officer of electric-vehicle firm Xpeng, a bleak assessment of supply-chain disruptions in the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns.

China's power battery installations in March were 21.4 GWh, up 138 percent year-on-year and up 56.6 percent from February, according to data released today by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).

According to recent comments from Toyota North America, the automaker expects to surpass the 200,000 vehicle threshold for EV sales sometime this summer, disqualifying itself from any additional tax credits in the United States under current legislation. Toyota's federal tax credits will be phased out just as the automaker plans to begin sales of its lone BEV, the bZ4X, later this year.

The manufacturing hub of Guangzhou closed itself to most arrivals Monday as China battles a major COVID-19 surge in its big eastern cities.

China's President Xi Jinping has praised his country's handling of the Covid pandemic, even as Shanghai reported record case numbers.

General Motors and Honda Motor said on Tuesday they will develop a series of lower-priced electric vehicles based on a new joint platform, producing potentially millions of cars from 2027 in a bid to beat Tesla in sales.

Initially, there had been separate measures for the eastern and western sides, but the whole city is now subject to indefinite restrictions.

A huge political row has broken out in the UK about the ongoing plans to sell Newport Wafer Fab, one of the very few plants left in the country still making semiconductors, to a Dutch subsidiary of Chinese group Wingtech.

Russia is turning to microchip manufactures in China to circumvent western sanctions which have boosted demand for bank cards linked to the Mir payment system, an executive with the domestic payment system said.

Tesla has notified workers and suppliers that production at its Shanghai factory will not resume on Monday as it had hoped, according to an internal notice shared with Reuters.

US automaker Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for four days after the financial hub said on Sunday it would lock down in two stages to carry out mass testing for COVID 19, two people familiar with the matter said.

Apple plans to make about 20% fewer iPhone SEs next quarter than originally planned, in one of the first signs that the Ukraine war and looming inflation have started to dent consumer electronics demand, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia.

Oil prices fell more than 5% early Monday as the Chinese city of Shanghai announced lockdown restrictions, triggering fears over weakened demand.

Chip designer Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology is seeking to raise fresh funds at a valuation of about CNY17 billion (US$2.7 billion) to fuel its growth, according to people familiar with the matter.

The CEO of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix said on Monday that its largest shareholder, SK Square, is considering merger and acquisition deals involving chip companies.

The city of Shanghai will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing.

The Russian Federation government is considering adding chip designers Baikal Electronics and MCST to the list of 'backbone enterprises.' The status will provide Baikal and MSCT with numerous benefits, including subsidies. State aid might help these companies to transition the production of their chips from Taiwan to China. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether fabs like SMIC and Hua Hong are interested in making chips for Russian companies and risk additional sanctions.

Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor and 'flying car' firm SkyDrive said on Tuesday they have signed a deal to team up in research, development and marketing of electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in northern Japan on Wednesday night, smashing furniture, knocking out power and killing four people. A small tsunami reached shore, but the low-risk advisory was lifted by Thursday morning.

Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for two days as China tightens restrictions to contain the latest Covid outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter.

Japan will stop exporting semiconductors to Russia next week, joining the US and its European allies in efforts to cripple Russia's military capability.

Mainland China reported over 1,000 new COVID-19 infections in dozens of cities, the highest daily count in about two years, with the Omicron variant forcing a northeastern city to go under lockdown and the financial hub Shanghai to close schools.

Two of China's largest cities, Shenzhen and Shanghai, imposed stringent restrictions on Sunday on the movements of their residents, as a coronavirus outbreak continued to spread across much of mainland China.

Masayuki Soube said: "we are also developing a self-propelled service robot that moves on wheels, but legs are still suitable for moving on rough terrain rather than wheels. So, halfway between humanoid robots and wheeled robots, [we]l wondered if there was an opportunity. That's why we started developing Bex, a quadruped walking robot."

Several traders said that the soaring price of crude and question marks over the supply of oil-derived naphtha - a popular feedstock in Asia - from Russia are challenging the economics of producing plastics in crackers in South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. They added that the problems are an early indication of the difficulties Russia?？ invasion of Ukraine may create for industries that rely on raw materials.

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is on fire following a Russian attack, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Friday, as he called for a security zone and firefighters to be allowed to tackle the incident. A generating unit at the plant has been hit during an attack by Russian troops and part of the station is on fire, RIA news agency cited the Ukrainian atomic energy ministry as saying on Friday. A plant spokesperson told RIA that background levels of radiation had not changed.

Companies will prioritize vendors that can provide consistent and dependable supplies, likely paying a premium. In the end, those costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. While prices will become an important consideration for consumers, brands that offer a consistently and predictably available set of choices will enjoy pricing power.

That sophisticated tracing system emerged from a relatively low-tech and crowd sourced development process.