Apple has set up a Foxconn factory that makes iPhone 12s and is piloting the iPhone 13 on a trial basis, Reuters reported today. The move comes after both Apple and Foxconn determined that some employee dormitories and dining rooms did not meet requirements.
Production at the factory in Sriperumbudur, India, has been shut down for a week and a half. Apple put a factory of Wistron Corp., another of its suppliers, on trial last year due to “turmoil,” Reuters noted, and Wistron received no new orders from Apple during that time.
The Foxconn factory in question has been closed since December 18. Protests had erupted that week after 256 factory workers were treated for food poisoning, 159 of whom were hospitalized. At the time, the local government described it as “an outbreak of acute diarrheal illness”.
There is no expected reopening date yet, but an unnamed state government official said it may not reopen until January 3. The plant’s approximately 17,000 employees will be paid in the meantime.
Foxconn, headquartered in Taiwan, is currently shaking up the factory’s local management team and working to improve its facilities, a spokesman said.
Apple, for its part, has sent independent auditors to examine the dorms amid “recent concerns about food safety and housing conditions,” a spokesperson said.