Lockdown: China lets iPhone factory reboot Foxconn

The Chinese government took strong action at the beginning of this week to prevent the massive spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and put the metropolis of Shenzhen in a new lockdown. After a short standstill, the first factories are now allowed to open again – including iPhone production.

All production sites are affected

That reports that Reuters news agency Just two days ago, the Chinese government completely shut down one of the key locations in the global electronics industry to conduct mass PCR testing and break the waves of infection. Under the Chinese government’s regulation, the lockdown will also affect all industrial and manufacturing sites for the entire week, forcing the world’s largest contract manufacturer Foxconn to shut down operations at its two factories in Shenzhen. Devices from Apple, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Xiaomi, and many more are produced there day and night.

Working in the “bubble”

However, Foxconn they have already developed a concept in case of a new lockdown – they rely on a “bubble” in which the workers will stay. This means that their contacts are greatly limited and the number of employees is reduced. There are no holidays or days off during the lockdown, so workers stay on-site and are tested for Covid-19 several times a day in the factories. In this way, business operations can be maintained. The government had already announced that it would quickly authorize the resumption of work after inspections of the factories’ procedures.

As a result, the Chinese government is now allowing production at Foxconn again. iPhone production is said to have started again. The situation is similar at Tesla. A similar emergency plan has been activated in the Gigafactory in order to continue working.