Apple has reportedly warned suppliers of more Chinese retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan this week. China’s response may disrupt shipments of iPhones and/or their components.
China expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the visit, with a range of measures ranging from imposing sanctions on Pelosi and her family to live-fire military exercises in Taiwanese waters. Now, another retaliatory measure has come to light that is reportedly interrupting iPhone production…
Background
Earlier this week, we reported that during her visit, Pelosi met with Apple chipmaker TSMC, and it was later revealed that she also met with iPhone assembler Pegatron.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was meant to show US support for Taiwan at a time when concerns are growing over a possible Chinese invasion. It was designed to show Beijing that the US is serious about its legal obligation to help Taiwan defend itself against any Chinese military attack.
However, many have expressed concern that the visit will provoke China rather than deter it, and it is becoming increasingly clear that this is indeed the case.
Pelosi’s meeting with TSMC likely had to do with the chip law and the implications for the company’s Arizona plant. The Taiwanese company was reportedly concerned about speculation that Intel could get the lion’s share of the subsidies.
Chinese revenge affects iPhone shipments
We’ve since learned that Pelosi also dated Taiwanese iPhone assembler Pegatron; there have since been reports of China blocking shipments to and/or from Pegatron’s Chinese factories.
Apple has warned its suppliers that China is imposing customs regulations that could result in import and export requests being rejected. This is reported by Reuters.
The iPhone maker has told suppliers that China has begun enforcing a long-standing rule requiring Taiwanese-made parts and components to be labeled “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei,” the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. .
Until now, this rule was considered “more enforceable in violation than in compliance”, but this has now changed as China insists on strict compliance.
There are conflicting reports at this time as to whether delivery delays affect both imports and exports to and from China, or only the movement of parts between Taiwan and China.
While Apple products are labeled “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China”, it is possible that the shipping documents indicate their origin as Taiwan. It seems likely that only the documents would need to be changed in order for shipments to be allowed.
If the problem is about shipping components from Taiwan for assembly in China, then the problem will be easy to fix if it’s just paperwork, but it will be much more damaging if any of the components are labeled “Made in Taiwan”. ”
Pegatron reportedly denies its shipments are affected, but the wording of its responses to media inquiries appears ambiguous. According to various reports, the company’s statement says that its plant is operating normally (which would have been the case anyway); that supplies from its Chinese factories were unaffected; or that all deliveries (including exports) proceeded as usual.
Either way, the timing of the outage is not good for Apple as it ramps up production of the iPhone 14 before launching this year’s lineup next month.
similar
The post China revenge for meeting with Pelosi affected Apple, company says appeared first on Gamingsym.