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Apple supplier Foxlink suffers massive fire at Indian facility

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Apple supplier Foxlink suffers massive fire at Indian facility

Apple supplier Foxlink has halted production at its assembly facility in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after a massive fire led part of the building to collapse on Monday, two local government officials told Reuters.

Foxlink, a unit of Taiwan's Cheng Uei Precision Industry, makes cables for iPhone chargers.

It set up a factory in Andhra in 2020.

The fire broke out in the afternoon and damaged roughly 50 per cent of the machinery at the factory, said J Ramanaiah, who leads the Fire Services Department for Tirupati district in the state.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An official for Foxlink did not respond to calls seeking comment.

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 (US$12 million) from the incident," Ramanaiah said.

Cupertino based Apple has bet big on India since it began assembling iPhones in the country in 2017 via Wistron and later with Foxconn, in line with the Indian government's push for local manufacturing.

It has several other supplier partners in India, with Foxlink being one of them.

 

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