Production disruption in China is everyone's nightmare in the IT supply chain in the wake of the coronavirus. Many makers are raising their production outside of China, and Apple reportedly is shifting its oreders to assembly lines in Taiwan for an array of products. But for Taiwan-based Foxconn - Apple's major partner for making its iPhone devices in China - the epidemic is creating tremendous pressure on its production at its plants that employ hundreds of thousdands of workers - managment of whom would be a big challenge as far as health monitoring is concerned. The outlook of Foxconn's sales in first-quarter 2020 is rather gloomy. At any rate, global handset shipments are likely to fall sharply even if the virus can be contained at the end of June.
Apple reportedly to shift orders for new devices to assembly lines in Taiwan: Apple is mulling shifting more assembly orders for its new models slated for launch in the first half of 2020 to factories in Taiwan mainly to diversify production risks associated with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources.
Foxconn sees 1Q20 revenues come under pressure: Foxconn Electronics is likely to have its first-quarter revenues hit by the fallout from coronavirus, according to industry sources.
Global handset sales still face steep fall even if outbreak can be contained by June: China's coronavirus outbreak is set to have far-reaching impacts on the global IT industry and could undermine global demand to a great extent if related supply chains are cut off, according to Colley Hwang, president of Digitimes.