Two weeks after a fatal explosion, it's business as usual at Foxconn's factory in Chengdu.
Inside Foxconn's Chengu factory. Photo: micgadget.com
After an explosion in a Chinese factory that makes iPads for Apple (AAPL) killed three workers and injured 15 more, one analyst estimated that Apple's quarterly iPad production numbers might fall by as much as 2.8 million units -- speculation that helped drive the company's shares down more than 1.5% that day.
Two weeks later, it's clear that those fears were overblown. According to the Wall Street Journal, the affected plants in Chengdu were restarted Thursday, two weeks to the day after the explosion. Susquehanna's Jeff Fidacaro, who had earlier estimated that the accident might cut into Apple's production by 200,000 to 500,000 units, issued a report to clients suggesting that by shifting work to other facilities and stepping up overtime, Foxconn -- which owns the factory-- would have made up the difference by the end of June. He's now conservatively estimating that Apple will ship 7.5 million iPads this quarter. Other analysts put that number as high as 10 million, more than twice the 4.7 million iPads Apple sold last quarter.
Meanwhile, the Chengdu plant is not without its problems. M.I.C. Gadget, the Chinese blog that broke the news of the explosion, reports that a young Foxconn worker died last week after jumping out of fifth-floor dormitory window. In a three-month period last spring, nine Foxconn workers leaped to their death from their dorms at Foxconn's factory city in Shenzhen.
A case study in how the options market reacts to breaking news
AAPL Max Pain before and after the explosion. Source: BSL
We've written a lot lately about how traders buying and selling options seem to be driving Apple's (AAPL) share price (see here, here and here.) So we thought it might be instructive to look at what happened on a day when Apple's share price took over and drove the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 23, 2011 9:00 AM ET
The explosion that killed three in Chengdu on Friday has been traced to a dust-collecting duct
Broken windows and twisted metal from the blast. Photo: M.I.C. Gadget
There were several developments over the weekend following the explosion that killed three and injured 15 in a factory in southwest China that builds iPads for Apple (AAPL). (See Inside the Apple iPad factory.)
The third death was confirmed. Six of the injured have been MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 23, 2011 7:35 AM ET
Fortune's curated selection of the weekend's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web. Sign up to get the newsletter delivered to you every day.
A note to readers: Apologies for the lack of updates over the last week -- yours truly was making preparations for a move out West. Effective end of June, I'll report from Fortune's San Francisco offices to better bring readers the latest tech scoops as they break. Thanks MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - May 23, 2011 6:30 AM ET
The site of Friday's explosion was massive 8-building complex thrown together in a record 70 days
Workers on a Chungdu assembly line. Photo: M.I.C. Gadget
When a polishing workshop blew up in Foxconn's new factory complex in Chengdu, China, it was an English-language website operating, as they put it, "outside the Great Firewall of China, temporarily," that broke the news and provided U.S. media outlets with videos, photos and regular updates.
On MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 21, 2011 11:05 AM ET
An analyst sketches out the economic implications in two scenarios: One serious, one less so
Workers fleeing the fire in Chengdu. Source: micgadget.com
RBC capital's Mike Abramsky was the first analyst out of the gate Friday with a note to clients assessing the effect on Apple (AAPL) of the explosion at Foxconn's Chengdu plant.
According to Abramsky, the plant is one of two primary manufacturing sites where the iPad 2 is produced, MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 20, 2011 2:55 PM ET
Much smoke and confusion in Chengdu, China. Apple shares take a hit
Chaos in Chengdu. Source: micgadget.com
At 7:20 p.m. local time Friday, according to preliminary reports out of China, an explosion struck a Foxconn plant in Chengdu that produces iPad 2s for Apple (AAPL).
The Chinese website M.I.C. Gadget passed along this first-hand report:
Ji Qing Ling's weibo said: "the explosion occurred in the A05, at 7 pm, the explosion caused many MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 20, 2011 11:52 AM ET
Its Asian supplier is said to be opening 50 new productions lines to meet demand
Photo: Silicon Alley Insider
DigiTimes, the Taipei-based daily that covers the Far Eastern electronics markets like the Sporting News covers baseball, reported Tuesday that Apple (AAPL) has stepped up production of the iPad in China.
The item is unsourced and like all supply-chain reporting should be treated as a rumor. But according to unnamed "sources from upstream MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
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| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
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| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
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| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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