Apple’s China factories close to resuming full production, Tim Cook says
Apple’s factories in China are getting closer to resuming full production even as the coronavirus chokes the tech giant’s iPhone supply, according to CEO Tim Cook, who said this week he’s “very optimistic” that the country is reining in the deadly bug.
The company’s Chinese plants have reopened and are making progress toward getting back up to speed after the deadly virus forced some to temporarily close, Cook said in a Thursday interview with Fox Business Network.
“I think of this as sort of the third phase of getting back to normal,” Cook told Fox, noting that components of the tech giant’s signature smartphone are produced all over the world.
He continued: “It feels to me that China is getting the coronavirus under control. You look at the numbers, they’re coming down day by day by day.”
Apple warned investors last week that its global iPhone supply would be “temporarily constrained” because the factories it uses in China were taking longer than expected to get production back to normal after reopening.
Apple said it did not expect to hit its quarterly revenue guidance because of the supply issues as well as slumping demand for its products in China, where the coronavirus has killed nearly 2,800 people and sickened more than 78,800.
Some 327 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in mainland China on Friday, the smallest number in more than a month. But about three quarters of new infections are now showing up in nations other than China as the disease has spread to 55 other countries and territories, infecting more than 4,200 people and killing roughly 70.
Apple’s stock price tumbled 6.5 percent Thursday, posting an even bigger loss than the Nasdaq 100 index, which sank 4.9 percent as Wall Street entered correction territory. Apple shares were down 1.7 percent in premarket trading at $268.79 as of 7:22 a.m. Friday.
With Post wires