Is Apple supply chain leaving China?

According to sources, an important supplier for Apple, Chassis maker is mulling plans to move production to Southeast Asia, with rumors claiming the maker is looking to sell its plants in China. This may be an indication that Apple’s supply chain partners are getting serious about relocating their production lines out of China at the behest of the client.

But Apple will remain heavily reliant on China. Chinese handset ODM Wingtech and components maker Luxshare have reported strong results for first-quarter 2020 despite sluggish demand in China’s handset market in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic, however, has triggered huge demand for stay-at-home support that in turn driven up sales for DRAM maker Nanya and players in the healthcare MCU and server chip supply chains.

Catcher reportedly mulling setting up factory site in Southeast Asia: Chassis maker Catcher Technology with manufacturing operations mainly in China reportedly is evaluating the feasibility of setting up a new plant in Southeast Asia to cope with Apple’s demand of shifting the upstream supply chain capacity to outside of China, according to industry sources.

Chinese handset ODMs enjoy ramp-up in lucrative orders: Chinese handset ODM Wingtech Technology and components maker Luxshare Precision Industry have posted significant on-year revenue and profit increases for the first quarter of 2020, despite sluggish domestic demand in China.

According to industry sources, strong demand for healthcare MCUs and commercial notebook chips driven by the coronavirus pandemic has significantly boosted capacity utilization at Taiwan’s backend houses, with clear visibility of packaging orders from vendors of both logic ICs extending to July.