Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/04/2020
By: Chung Jung-feng and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, said Monday its production sites in China are running normally and denied rumors it had put large numbers of workers on furlough.

Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn, was responding to reports in Chinese and Hong Kong news media that it has asked some workers at its Shenzhen complex to take unpaid leave because of sharply falling orders due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple Daily in Hong Kong, Tencent affiliate qq.com and other media said Hon Hai's unpaid leave program began May 1 and will continue until Sept. 1, a move necessitated by Apple closing its stores outside China because of the spread of the new coronavirus disease.

Hon Hai is the biggest iPhone assembler, and the widespread closure of Apple stores and lower iPhone sales have led to a big fall in its orders, the reports said.    [FULL  STORY]