It is not only Germany that is groaning under a heat wave that is increasingly beginning to affect industrial production. In China, too, it is currently sweltering hot. Here, too, the consequences are factory closures, which also lead to impairments in Apple’s supply chain.
This time it is not Corona that is causing production losses in China, but – indirectly – climate change. China is hit by the worst heat wave in 60 years, with serious consequences not only for people but also for industry, for example in the southwestern Sichuan province. The first dropouts in lithium production occurred there, as agencies report . The energy-intensive production processes came to a standstill due to power cuts, which in turn were made necessary by the extreme heat. There were also impairments in other metal extraction processes.
This also affects Apple, among other things, as the well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo writes afterwards.
iPad production could be affected
Among other things, the production losses lead to restrictions in the Foxconn and Compal factories in Chengdu and Chongqing.
It is currently still difficult to estimate how far-reaching the failures in the provision of preliminary products will also affect iPad production. The effects would be manageable should power come back within five days.
In the future, high temperatures in regions where important metals such as lithium are mined could also affect the manufacture of consumer products, Susan Zou from Rystad Energy is quoted by agencies as saying. Higher temperatures directly translated into higher lithium prices, the analyst said. This in turn leads to higher end customer prices.
