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Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, declined to
comment.
Production at the world's largest manufacturing facility of
Apple Inc's iPhones was heavily affected late last year after a
COVID-19 outbreak and curbs taken to control the virus prompted
thousands of workers to leave. It was also hit by a bout of
worker unrest over payment issues.
Foxconn has been offering bonuses to attract new workers and
convince those still there to stay on. A company source told
Reuters last month that it was aiming for the plant to resume
full production around late December to early January.
"Production has almost fully resumed," said one of the people on
Tuesday, who declined to be identified as the information was
private.
The second person said production was nearly back to normal but
that company officials remained cautious over the outlook due to
a spike of COVID-19 cases across China.
"We expect a peak for cases before or after the Lunar New Year
holiday," the person said, referring to the week-long break that
starts on Jan 21. "We don't know if that will cause any issues."
On Saturday, the government-owned broadcaster of Henan province,
where the plant is located, quoted an executive from the factory
as saying that the plant's workforce was currently stable at
200,000 staff and that it had also stabilised its supply chain,
enabling production capacity to recover.
The plant is able to accommodate as many as 300,000 workers.
The Zhengzhou plant's troubles highlighted the difficulties
companies and workers had in adhering to China's zero-COVID-19
policy.
The central government in early December, after Foxconn's woes
and a string of protests over the policy, abruptly dropped the
policy to adopt a strategy of living with the virus. The move
was greeted by widespread relief but has also precipitated a
wave of infections across the country.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei; Writing by Brenda Goh;
Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Christopher Cushing)
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