Apple Manufacturer Foxconn Slashes 2020 Revenue Growth Predictions Amid Coronavirus Concerns

Foxconn, Apple’s main iPhone manufacturing partner, has slashed its 2020 revenue growth predictions over concerns relating to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to a new Bloomberg report.

“Foxconn’s Hon Hai, which makes the vast majority of the world’s iPhones from the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, is now projecting a sales increase of 1 per cent to 3 per cent this year, chairman Young Liu told Bloomberg News in a text message,” reads the report. “That is down from a January 22 forecast of 3 per cent to 5 per cent before the epidemic spread further around the globe.”

Foxconn is the world’s largest provider of manufacturing services, manufacturing products for Apple, Amazon, Cisco Systems, Dell, Google, Hewlett Packard, Huawei Electronics Co., Intel, Nintendo, Sony, and Xiaomi, among others.

While best known for manufacturing iPhones and iPads such as in the iPad factory in Chengdu (pictured), the company also makes the Sony PlayStation, Amazon Kindle, Xbox One, various phone models and processor sockets and motherboards used in enterprise hardware.

The Foxconn plants have not been in production since the beginning of the Chinese New Year, which started January 25. The plants traditionally shut down for a week during the New Year celebrations, but the Chinese government has extended the holiday break in an attempt to curtail the spread of the virus.



Foxconn’s shipments to customers, including Apple, could be disrupted if a Chinese factory halt extends into a second week, a source said, adding that Foxconn has halted almost all its production in China.

Foxconn currently intends to re-open on February 10, but that could yet be pushed back if Chinese officials deem it necessary.

“But while Chinese officials and companies have targeted Feb. 10 as the date to resume work in much of the country, doubts about the timing have grown in recent days as the virus death toll rises, workers find themselves stuck in municipal lockdowns and the transport of people and goods has been hampered,” reads the report.

Any further delay could potentially impact a March event from Apple, given manufacturing lead times needed to produce millions of devices before a launch. Apple is predicted to unveil at least an “iPhone SE 2” and new iPad Pro lineup.