Taiwan’s Foxconn and Pegatron have halted production of Apple iPhones at their factories near Chennai in southern India because of heavy rains, sources close to the matter said on Monday.
In Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai, the state’s largest city and a major electronics and manufacturing hub, at least two people died and the runway of one of the country’s busiest airports was submerged after torrential rain as the city braced for a severe cyclone expected to hit in the next 24 hours. Two others had died elsewhere. Cyclone Michaung was expected to make landfall on the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh around noon on Tuesday, the country’s weather office said, with sustained winds of 90kph to 100kph (56mph to 62mph), gusting to 110kph.
Foxconn, which employs about 35,000 people at its Tamil Nadu iPhone factory, has yet to decide whether to resume production on Tuesday, the sources said.
Foxconn has rapidly expanded its presence in India by investing in manufacturing locations in the south of the country. Apple declined to comment and Foxconn and Pegatron did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
This is the second time in recent months that Pegatron has been forced to shut its factory, having temporarily halted assembly of iPhones after a fire in September.
Several areas of the city were submerged in knee-deep water and there have been power outages since Monday morning, one witness said, evoking memories of December 2015 when around 290 people died after catastrophic floods. Authorities in both states were on high alert, evacuating thousands of people living in coastal areas, officials in both states said, with warnings issued to fishermen not to venture out to sea.