author: Bart Swiatek
Coronavirus Causes Problems for Apple and Samsung
It appears that the coronavirus, which the Chinese authorities are currently trying to deal with, may have a negative impact on the electronic equipment market. The media reports about factory being closed, and global corporations are preparing for complications and limiting or suspending travels to the country.
TechPowerUp reports (citing the little-known website ZeroHedge) that the Chinese authorities have closed several factories owned (or used by) large technology companies, such as Foxconn, Samsung or Apple. The decision was made because of the spread of the dangerous coronavirus in the country (according to the statistics, the disease has already claimed 132 lives and the total number of confirmed infections exceeded 6 thousand).
The reports are consistent with information from Reuters, according to which Apple - despite a good quarter and growing sales of its devices - is preparing for complications related to the coronavirus epidemic. The company has already closed one of its stores located in China, and has reduced working time in the other.
"Apple is forecasting a stronger Q2 than analysts predicted, but the fact that the coronavirus is spreading in unpredictable ways in China, where Apple has most of its hardware built, could upset this optimistic forecast,” said eMarketer principal analyst Yoram Wurmser.
Due to the coronavirus, large global corporations (including LG Electronics, Webasto, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Facebook) are limiting or even completely suspending their delegations to China (the US Administration, which issued a note on Monday, also recommends its citizens to refrain from travelling to china). Marek Zuckerberg's company has additionally recommended that employees who have recently travelled to China on business trips should work remotely for the time being.
An unpredictable situation may affect the quotations of these companies on the stock exchanges, as well as prices of electronic equipment.