Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密), a key supplier to Apple Inc, has asked its Taiwanese employees who work at its plant in Wuhan, China, but are back in Taiwan for the Lunar New Year holiday to stay home, given the new coronavirus outbreak in the city.
Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), yesterday said that no health problems had been found so far in its Wuhan-based employees who had returned to Taiwan for the holiday, but it had asked them not to attend the annual year-end party in Taipei yesterday, and to stay home during the holiday in case of any contagion.
“We also urge any colleague who had been to Wuhan over the past two weeks to report to the company and rest at home for safety’s sake,” company founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) said in his speech at the party.
Photo: CNA
“2020 is full of challenges,” Gou said. “The outbreak of coronavirus is one of them.”
“The speed of contagion will be no less than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome,” he said, referring to the 2002-2003 epidemic that started in China and killed nearly 800 people globally.
“I advise everyone not to go to the mainland for this coming new year holiday,” he added.
The company stepped up health checks at the party at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, including providing 35,000 facemasks and checking everyone’s temperature as they entered the venue.
Since the outbreak, Foxconn workers in Wuhan have been wearing facemasks and getting their temperature checked, the company said.
Management has to decide whether those Taiwanese who work in Wuhan need to return there to work after the holiday, Gou said.
Management needs to come up with solutions such as video conference systems for employees if they are to work remotely from Taiwan, Gou said.
Hon Hai is expected to get through this situation, as it had been trained and survived SARS, he added.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
HON HAI LURKS: The ‘Nikkei’ reported that Foxconn’s interest in Nissan accelerated the Honda-merger effort out of fears it might be taken over by the Taiwanese firm Nissan Motor Co has become the latest buyout target in Japan as it explores a merger with Honda Motor Co and faces an overture from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally. Shares in Nissan yesterday jumped 24 percent, the most on record, to hit the daily limit, after the two Japanese automakers acknowledged that talks are ongoing to better position themselves for competitive challenges during a time of upheaval in the global auto industry. Foxconn — a Taipei-based manufacturer of iPhones, which has been investing heavily in factories to build electric vehicles — has also
RSS