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From events losing exhibitors and attendees, stores being closed and factories running at low capacity, the coronavirus is halting the tech industry from all angles.
Withdrawal From Conferences and Tech Shows
Both Intel and Facebook announced their withdrawal from the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. Around 6,000 of the 100,000 attendees travel from China.
The conference put a lot of measures in place to ensure the safety of all attendees which includes temperature screening at the doors to disinfectant and sanitising materials made available to all attending the conference to a ban for travellers travelling from the province of Hubei in China.
Intel
They stated they take the safety and health of their employees and partners very seriously and decided to withdraw completely.
Facebook said they want to prevent evolving health risks and has decided to not attend the congress.
Others
Amazon, LG, Nvidia, ZTE, Ericsson and Sony have partially or completely withdrawn from MWC. Read this article to see how other big tech companies responded.
Foxconn
Apple’s biggest supplier is hit hard with factory closures continuing until further notice. Foxconn did ask the Chinese government permission to open its factory in the city of Shenzhen but the request was declined.
The factory in Zhengzhou was allowed to open but only 10 percent of the staff turned up for work.
Because of these factory closures and a decimated workforce, there is a chance that Apple may need to delay the launch of any new products they plan to release in the first half of 2020.
Closed Stores
Big names that include Apple, Microsoft, Google, Tesla and Samsung have closed corporate offices, retail stores and factories in China. These closures were intended to last until the 9th of February 2020, but several companies did not communicate a set date when they will open again.
Apple
News from Apple states that contact centres and corporate offices will open somewhere in next week (week of 17 February 2020) but rerail store openings is not yet decided on. According to Bloomberg, next week could mean 15 February 2020 but nothing is certain yet.
To reopen public stores, health protocols will need to be followed and additional cleaning will need to take place so ensure their part in not spreading the virus.
Facebook warned its employees to restrict travel to China as far as possible. They do not have offices in China but some employees still travel there on business.
Amazon
No office closures in Shenzhen, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai as been announced but it also urged employees to not travel there if not absolutely necessary.
Closing
The biggest hit tech companies are those who have factories, suppliers and retail stores in China. With technology as advanced as we have today, other business can continue as usual from home or offices that are cleared to be open.
Tech companies will need a backup plan in place to fight the loss of time they are experiencing now and they will have to be able to implement that plan very quickly, to avoid further losses.
