Apple Supplier Foxconn Says Worldwide Component Shortage Easing

The world’s largest iPhone maker says that the worldwide component shortage is starting to ease.

A new Bloomberg report says that the biggest assembler of iPhones, Hon Hai aka Foxconn, said component shortages that are plagued electronics production for more than a year are showing signs of easing, a potentially encouraging signal for manufacturers across industries.

The manufacturing giant claims that there will be a major improvement in parts shortages in the first quarter with overall supply constraints set to ease in the second half.

Bloomberg reports:

The biggest assembler of iPhones said component shortages that have plagued electronics production for more than a year are showing signs of easing, a potentially encouraging signal for manufacturers across industries.

There will be a major improvement in parts shortages in the first quarter, with “overall supply constraints” set to ease in the second half, James Wu, a spokesman for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co [aka Foxconn] said during a company event in Taipei on Thursday […]

The company expects first-quarter revenue to be little changed compared with a year earlier, Wu said.

A shortage of components, especially computer chips, has hurt production of everything from cars to smartphones as demand rose during the pandemic. Another Apple supplier, TSMC, and its peers have indicated chip supply will remain tight throughout 2022 and carmakers including Ford and Toyota have recently warned about an ongoing impact from the semiconductor crunch.

Meanwhile, Foxconn said power management chips are still in short supply. The company, which buys about $55 billion USD of chips a year, is striving to minimize the impact from supply chain challenges, expecting first quarter revenues to be relatively unchanged compared with last year.

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