Foxconn Chairman Young Liu says the current COVID lockdown in China, as well as growing global inflation, could result in a flat 2023 for the Apple assembly partner.
As reported by Nikkei Asia, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said the company is “closely monitoring the macroeconomic situation, but for now does not see any opportunity to grow revenue next year massively.”
“For next year, we see cloud data center and networking products being the robust growth drivers … but overall consumer electronics and smart electronic devices will still be slow and a bit weak,” Liu told an investors conference.
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant is currently in lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Apple recently told consumers that it expects iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments to be lower than had been expected due to temporary COVID-19 restrictions at the Zhengzhou, China Foxconn factory where the handsets are assembled.
Liu says this could also impact gross margin for Foxconn’s October-December quarter. He does not believe that the company’s competitors will gain an advantage in the short term.
“This [lockdown] could happen anywhere. We don’t think there’s a likelihood that our competitors will gain an advantage in the short term because of this,” Liu said when asked about whether its smaller rivals Pegatron and Luxshare could snag market share from Foxconn due to the disruption. “Foxconn has massive production footprints globally, and we believe we are still the most competitive, and have a good position for diversification in terms of risks and locations.”
Foxconn’s revenue for the last quarter rose more than 24% on the year to a record $54.9 billion.
(Via BGR)