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Wow, don’t think I’ve seen Apple issue a PR like this before. No doubt Apple’s considering now more than ever to continue to diversify their supply chain. China

Wow, don’t think I’ve seen Apple issue a PR like this before. No doubt Apple’s considering now more than ever to continue to diversify their supply chain. China seems to have no issue continuing with their Zero-Covid approach.

ozzythecat 4y ago
I don’t recall a similar announcement even at the height of COVID. Do we know what’s now changed?
- Moissanite 4y ago
  Expectations, I'd bet. During peak covid, everything was a bit like this - but now the perception is closer to "business as usual, with economic headwinds".
- Veliladon 4y ago
  One of Foxconn's biggest factories has been locked down because of COVID. They're one of the biggest suppliers of iPhone final assembly labour. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-under-new-covid-lockdown-in-china-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-...
  - lumost 4y ago
    - Arn_Thor 4y ago
      This is a consequence of China’s zero-Covid policy. Nationally, the instruction is to eliminate outbreaks, even of new and milder variants. Leading up to the party congress local authorities appear to have reported inaccurately low numbers to avoid bad news for the leadership. Now, after the congress, the task is to quickly eliminate outbreaks to avoid the need for even harsher measures like full-city lockdowns like seen in Shanghai earlier this year. Additionally China has spent the past three years telling its population that the rest of the world has been irresponsibly murdering its citizens by adopting a “live with Covid” policy. So when rumors of a possible lockdown of the factory or its economic zone started spreading, employees fled either because they feared an outbreak or because they didn’t want to get locked in there for an indeterminate period of time.
      - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        jstummbillig 4y ago
        What have you heard about it? I find it hard to assess with the currently available information (and, apparently, so does the world given the huge disparities in politics). Long covid is real and scary. So are cancer, heart attacks and car crashes, but it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis of the possible counter measures available at societal level because of that.
        ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        > it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis Western leaders aren't doing any cost/benefit analysis at all - except to their political career. We have a range of very low-cost, technological measures avaliable. For exampme upgrading schools with proper ventillation. We have scientific studies that show this would reduce likelihood of infection for everythint, from COVID to common cold. It would reduce CO2 concentrations in classrooms and help children be more alert and awake. There has been zero budget allocated to them. In London I have seen UV sterilisation installed on handrails of the escalators, and ROI on that will be mostly zero.
        pacificmint 4y ago
        The best estimate I found was from May of this year. At the time they estimated somewhere between 7.7 and 23 million cases of long Covid in the US. Compare that with 1.6 million people getting a cancer diagnosis every year, about 40 thousand traffic fatalities and 2.2 million injured in traffic accidents.
        jstummbillig 4y ago
        Well, that sounds fairly staggering. Do you have a source link?
    - gowings97 4y ago
      China has maintained a zero Covid policy and has yet to lift it.
    - ericmay 4y ago
      I think if it isn’t now it will be in China. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a retaliatory move for the recent chip ban. No evidence of that whatsoever, pure speculation.
    - beebmam 4y ago
      It seems highly plausible to me.
- jonas21 4y ago
  The last few months are the height of COVID in China.
  - dehrmann 4y ago
    This winter might be especially bad for covid in China. It's 1-2 years behind the rest of the world.
    - rob74 4y ago
      The policy in China is 1-2 years behind. Everyone else has realized that with Omicron a zero Covid policy is no longer feasible (and, where vaccination rates are high, not needed either), but that hasn't yet gotten through to Xi (or it has, but he thinks reversing the policy will somehow cause him to "lose face").
      - dehrmann 4y ago
        Not just policy, but immunity. Barring mass covid parties, it'll take China 1-2 years to get immunity on par with the rest of the world.
- moviedo 4y ago
  "Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain." From different news outlets and youtube channels that cover china's zero covid policy I feel the statement above referring to the health and safety of the Foxconn workers is pure PR puff. I really like this youtube channel call China Insights witch gives some decent information on this exact Foxconn issues and how the workers are fleeing the lock-down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc
- smallmind 4y ago
  Three possible reasons: 1. Workers only get food if they show up for their shift. If they are sick and don't work, there is no place to get food in the Foxconn campus. Due to the lockdown, the workers can't order food delivered online if sick. 2. When local governments force people to quarantine, they are supposed to provide basic meals. However, it seems most workers who were quarantined recently did not receive any food or water for days because the local government expected Foxconn to provide it instead. 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY
  - bpye 4y ago
    Well any one of those three sound absolutely horrendous.
    - throwaway290 4y ago
      > 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. This is now just routine, very easy way to get views (courtesy government of some country that chose to hush the beginnings of a pandemic).
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  It is now the height of Covid in China because they refused effective western vaccine help (because apparently that hurts Xi’s feelings).
xuki 4y ago
I guess this is severe enough that they're obligated to let investors know.
- echelon 4y ago
  It is. Workers are fleeing and returning home. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/fearing-covid-workers-flee-from-foxconns-vast-chinese-iphone-plant.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/fearing-covid-workers-flee-f... These sources include some dramatic video: https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/chinese-workers-jump-fence-to-escape-apple-iphone-factory-lockdown/ https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/chinese-workers-jump-fence-to-... https://hongkongfp.com/2022/11/05/we-were-scared-workers-at-foxconn-iphone-factory-in-china-recount-covid-chaos/ https://hongkongfp.com/2022/11/05/we-were-scared-workers-at-...
  - sva_ 4y ago
    Direct link to the video https://nitter.net/StephenMcDonell/status/1586633671150211072 https://nitter.net/StephenMcDonell/status/158663367115021107... It looks very disturbing to see them hauling their luggage (why do they have luggage at their place of employment?) out of something that I can only interpret to look like a prison.
    - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
      > why do they have luggage at their place of employment? Because it's also their place of residence.
    - bretpiatt 4y ago
      It is known as Foxconn City where workers all live on campus, good article from 2017 for more context https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-l...
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
wongarsu 4y ago
> China seems to have no issue continuing with their Zero-Covid approach I imagine it's politically difficult. If they open the floodgates, it's going to be worse than for most other countries because they haven't had a chance to build natural immunity from exposure, only from vaccines. And any wave of infections is going to be seen as a failure of zero-covid, making the hardships of it meaningless; a failure of the party. I'm not sure how they are going to get out of it without letting some heads roll. Maybe a wonder vaccine that will make all of China immune.
- cokeandpepsi 4y ago
- ttul 4y ago
  The Chinese vaccine is pretty good, so their population is already well protected, assuming they have been vaccinating everyone as thoroughly as they have been locking them down… I think one problem in China is that old people have resisted being vaccinated because they don’t trust the authorities. And old people are obviously the most at risk of dying or being seriously ill. It’s a made in China problem, for sure.
  - cactusplant7374 4y ago
    About 50% of 80+ Chinese citizens are unvaccinated. It’s really quite amazing China hasn’t forced them to vaccinate.
    - kccqzy 4y ago
      Why does it not? The ethics of forced vaccination notwithstanding, if China is okay with using its authoritarian rule to impose massive lockdowns repeatedly, surely it'd be comfortable using its power to force vaccination?
      - cactusplant7374 4y ago
        Because their vaccines aren’t good enough compared to mRNA. And that would show the world they aren’t a leader.
gnicholas 4y ago
My first thought was that it’s shocking to see an announcement like this on a Sunday. Then I realized they might be hoping the news gets buried. But with the election on Tuesday, I think that would have happened either way!
- tenpies 4y ago
  Yes, if Apple wanted to bury, a Friday afternoon release would have been in order. More likely these are new developments and Apple just heard of them relatively recently, keeping in mind that it's already Monday morning in China. This is also quite likely retaliation from China for Biden's latest trade war actions. Apple, is after all, one of two major US companies whose share price has not been turned into rubble. Doing this days before Midterms, knowing how desperate the Democrats are, is perfect timing. If Apple's share price falls drastically, it will be headline news and will likely also materially impact most indexes. What's the other major US company whose share price hasn't been rubble-ized? Why Tesla of course. And their biggest and - most likely - only profitable factory is in China.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Hasn't been rubble-ized? TSLA's at $227 from a high of almost $400 this year, so I'm no sure what you mean. And given the shutdowns, it seems to me that Tesla's China factory would be the unprofitable one.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  shocking to see an announcement like this on a Sunday. Then I realized they might be hoping the news gets buried When companies want to bury the news, they release it on Friday. It's called "taking out the trash." /Former journo
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    I’ve heard that, but isn’t that assuming the news will be released on a weekday? I can’t remember the last time a corporate press release went out on a Sunday.

ozzythecat 4y ago

I don’t recall a similar announcement even at the height of COVID. Do we know what’s now changed?

Moissanite 4y ago
Expectations, I'd bet. During peak covid, everything was a bit like this - but now the perception is closer to "business as usual, with economic headwinds".
Veliladon 4y ago
One of Foxconn's biggest factories has been locked down because of COVID. They're one of the biggest suppliers of iPhone final assembly labour. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-under-new-covid-lockdown-in-china-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/apple-iphone-assembly-plant-...
- lumost 4y ago
  - Arn_Thor 4y ago
    This is a consequence of China’s zero-Covid policy. Nationally, the instruction is to eliminate outbreaks, even of new and milder variants. Leading up to the party congress local authorities appear to have reported inaccurately low numbers to avoid bad news for the leadership. Now, after the congress, the task is to quickly eliminate outbreaks to avoid the need for even harsher measures like full-city lockdowns like seen in Shanghai earlier this year. Additionally China has spent the past three years telling its population that the rest of the world has been irresponsibly murdering its citizens by adopting a “live with Covid” policy. So when rumors of a possible lockdown of the factory or its economic zone started spreading, employees fled either because they feared an outbreak or because they didn’t want to get locked in there for an indeterminate period of time.
    - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
      - jstummbillig 4y ago
        What have you heard about it? I find it hard to assess with the currently available information (and, apparently, so does the world given the huge disparities in politics). Long covid is real and scary. So are cancer, heart attacks and car crashes, but it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis of the possible counter measures available at societal level because of that.
        ClumsyPilot 4y ago
        > it would be a really bad idea to skip a cost/benefit analysis Western leaders aren't doing any cost/benefit analysis at all - except to their political career. We have a range of very low-cost, technological measures avaliable. For exampme upgrading schools with proper ventillation. We have scientific studies that show this would reduce likelihood of infection for everythint, from COVID to common cold. It would reduce CO2 concentrations in classrooms and help children be more alert and awake. There has been zero budget allocated to them. In London I have seen UV sterilisation installed on handrails of the escalators, and ROI on that will be mostly zero.
        pacificmint 4y ago
        The best estimate I found was from May of this year. At the time they estimated somewhere between 7.7 and 23 million cases of long Covid in the US. Compare that with 1.6 million people getting a cancer diagnosis every year, about 40 thousand traffic fatalities and 2.2 million injured in traffic accidents.
        jstummbillig 4y ago
        Well, that sounds fairly staggering. Do you have a source link?
  - gowings97 4y ago
    China has maintained a zero Covid policy and has yet to lift it.
  - ericmay 4y ago
    I think if it isn’t now it will be in China. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a retaliatory move for the recent chip ban. No evidence of that whatsoever, pure speculation.
  - beebmam 4y ago
    It seems highly plausible to me.
jonas21 4y ago
The last few months are the height of COVID in China.
- dehrmann 4y ago
  This winter might be especially bad for covid in China. It's 1-2 years behind the rest of the world.
  - rob74 4y ago
    The policy in China is 1-2 years behind. Everyone else has realized that with Omicron a zero Covid policy is no longer feasible (and, where vaccination rates are high, not needed either), but that hasn't yet gotten through to Xi (or it has, but he thinks reversing the policy will somehow cause him to "lose face").
    - dehrmann 4y ago
      Not just policy, but immunity. Barring mass covid parties, it'll take China 1-2 years to get immunity on par with the rest of the world.
moviedo 4y ago
"Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain." From different news outlets and youtube channels that cover china's zero covid policy I feel the statement above referring to the health and safety of the Foxconn workers is pure PR puff. I really like this youtube channel call China Insights witch gives some decent information on this exact Foxconn issues and how the workers are fleeing the lock-down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9DXebls8Bc
smallmind 4y ago
Three possible reasons: 1. Workers only get food if they show up for their shift. If they are sick and don't work, there is no place to get food in the Foxconn campus. Due to the lockdown, the workers can't order food delivered online if sick. 2. When local governments force people to quarantine, they are supposed to provide basic meals. However, it seems most workers who were quarantined recently did not receive any food or water for days because the local government expected Foxconn to provide it instead. 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKBAeie5wY
- bpye 4y ago
  Well any one of those three sound absolutely horrendous.
  - throwaway290 4y ago
    > 3. Someone made a viral video suggesting everyone who was quarantined in a dormitory room died of a new deadly disease. This is now just routine, very easy way to get views (courtesy government of some country that chose to hush the beginnings of a pandemic).
mensetmanusman 4y ago
It is now the height of Covid in China because they refused effective western vaccine help (because apparently that hurts Xi’s feelings).

xuki 4y ago

I guess this is severe enough that they're obligated to let investors know.

echelon 4y ago
It is. Workers are fleeing and returning home. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/fearing-covid-workers-flee-from-foxconns-vast-chinese-iphone-plant.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/fearing-covid-workers-flee-f... These sources include some dramatic video: https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/chinese-workers-jump-fence-to-escape-apple-iphone-factory-lockdown/ https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/chinese-workers-jump-fence-to-... https://hongkongfp.com/2022/11/05/we-were-scared-workers-at-foxconn-iphone-factory-in-china-recount-covid-chaos/ https://hongkongfp.com/2022/11/05/we-were-scared-workers-at-...
- sva_ 4y ago
  Direct link to the video https://nitter.net/StephenMcDonell/status/1586633671150211072 https://nitter.net/StephenMcDonell/status/158663367115021107... It looks very disturbing to see them hauling their luggage (why do they have luggage at their place of employment?) out of something that I can only interpret to look like a prison.
  - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
    > why do they have luggage at their place of employment? Because it's also their place of residence.
  - bretpiatt 4y ago
    It is known as Foxconn City where workers all live on campus, good article from 2017 for more context https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-life-death-forbidden-city-longhua-suicide-apple-iphone-brian-merchant-one-device-extract https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/18/foxconn-l...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

wongarsu 4y ago

> China seems to have no issue continuing with their Zero-Covid approach I imagine it's politically difficult. If they open the floodgates, it's going to be worse than for most other countries because they haven't had a chance to build natural immunity from exposure, only from vaccines. And any wave of infections is going to be seen as a failure of zero-covid, making the hardships of it meaningless; a failure of the party. I'm not sure how they are going to get out of it without letting some heads roll. Maybe a wonder vaccine that will make all of China immune.

cokeandpepsi 4y ago
ttul 4y ago
The Chinese vaccine is pretty good, so their population is already well protected, assuming they have been vaccinating everyone as thoroughly as they have been locking them down… I think one problem in China is that old people have resisted being vaccinated because they don’t trust the authorities. And old people are obviously the most at risk of dying or being seriously ill. It’s a made in China problem, for sure.
- cactusplant7374 4y ago
  About 50% of 80+ Chinese citizens are unvaccinated. It’s really quite amazing China hasn’t forced them to vaccinate.
  - kccqzy 4y ago
    Why does it not? The ethics of forced vaccination notwithstanding, if China is okay with using its authoritarian rule to impose massive lockdowns repeatedly, surely it'd be comfortable using its power to force vaccination?
    - cactusplant7374 4y ago
      Because their vaccines aren’t good enough compared to mRNA. And that would show the world they aren’t a leader.

gnicholas 4y ago

My first thought was that it’s shocking to see an announcement like this on a Sunday. Then I realized they might be hoping the news gets buried. But with the election on Tuesday, I think that would have happened either way!

tenpies 4y ago
Yes, if Apple wanted to bury, a Friday afternoon release would have been in order. More likely these are new developments and Apple just heard of them relatively recently, keeping in mind that it's already Monday morning in China. This is also quite likely retaliation from China for Biden's latest trade war actions. Apple, is after all, one of two major US companies whose share price has not been turned into rubble. Doing this days before Midterms, knowing how desperate the Democrats are, is perfect timing. If Apple's share price falls drastically, it will be headline news and will likely also materially impact most indexes. What's the other major US company whose share price hasn't been rubble-ized? Why Tesla of course. And their biggest and - most likely - only profitable factory is in China.
- fragmede 4y ago
  Hasn't been rubble-ized? TSLA's at $227 from a high of almost $400 this year, so I'm no sure what you mean. And given the shutdowns, it seems to me that Tesla's China factory would be the unprofitable one.
reaperducer 4y ago
shocking to see an announcement like this on a Sunday. Then I realized they might be hoping the news gets buried When companies want to bury the news, they release it on Friday. It's called "taking out the trash." /Former journo
- gnicholas 4y ago
  I’ve heard that, but isn’t that assuming the news will be released on a weekday? I can’t remember the last time a corporate press release went out on a Sunday.