Apple supplier Foxlink has stopped production at its assembly facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a fire led part of the building to collapse on Monday, Reuters news report said.
Foxlink, a unit of Taiwan’s Cheng Uei Precision Industry, makes cables for iPhone chargers. Foxlink set up a factory in Andhra Pradesh in 2020.
The fire broke out in the afternoon and damaged roughly 50 percent of the machinery at the factory, said J Ramanaiah, who leads the Fire Services Department for Tirupati district in the state.
The business impact on Apple was not immediately clear and the root cause of the incident was unknown.
The fire is now under control and there were no casualties, said Ramanaiah. He showed Reuters photos and videos of the factory blaze with charred machinery inside the plant and groups of fire fighters trying to douse the fire. The videos and photos showed huge plumes of smoke rising from the plant.
“Management has conveyed to us that they estimate a loss of roughly 1 billion rupees ($12 million) from the incident,” Ramanaiah said.
Cupertino, California-based Apple began assembling iPhones in India in 2017 via Wistron and later with Foxconn, in line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing. Apple has several other supplier partners in India, with Foxlink being one of them.
