Apple Supplier Foxconn Halts Vietnam Operations

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s key supplier Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE:2354) has shut down its manufacturing units in Vietnam for three days. The Taiwan-based company assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple. The company had to halt operations in Vietnam due to deadly anti-China protests. The China-Vietnam relations worsened when China started drilling an oil rig in waters near the disputed Paracel Islands in South China Sea.

Apple, Nike, Wal-Mart suppliers face trouble

Anti-China protests in Vietnam have led to factory shut-downs, vandalism and several deaths in multiple industrial parks across the nation. Police officials said that hundreds of Chinese natives working in Vietnam have fled to Cambodia, fearing that the unrest may turn even more deadly. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier is not the only one to suffer. Even factories supplying to Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) have been shut down. Yue Yuen, which makes sports shoes for Nike and Adidas, resumed operations on Friday after three days of shut down.But the company is worried that violence could erupt again. 

Earlier this week, China blamed increasing U.S. role in Asia for tensions in the South China Sea that led to protests in Vietnam. Chinese officials told the United States to mind its own business, and stay away from the South China Sea issue. Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE:2354) has six manufacturing units in Vietnam that produce smartphones, computers and electronic components for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other companies.

Apple supplier Foxconn launched its first Vietnamese facility in 2007

A Foxconn Technology Co Ltd (TPE:2354) official said that most of its Taiwanese and Chinese executives have left Vietnam temporarily. The company’s manufacturing facilities haven’t suffered any damages. Most of Foxconn’s factories are in China, where it employs over one million workers. The company started its first facility in Vietnam in 2007.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 0.10% to $588.14 in pre-market trading Friday.

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