A city view of Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province Photo: VCG

Several Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufactures in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province have suspended production, as local anti-epidemic policies require that the whole city suspend all non-essential activities in order to curb the spread of recent COVID-19 flare-ups. 

Experts noted that the suspension may affect global electronics industry supply chains over the short term.

On Tuesday, Kunshan released a notice on its Wechat account, saying that due to the sporadic outbreaks, all firms except public service enterprises should reduce production or telecommute under fully closed management from April 6 to 8.

Two days later, the city said that given recent waves of coronavirus cases spread through agricultural trade markets, the government decided to extend the suspension date from April 8 to 12.

As of Sunday, more than six electronics providers in Kunshan have announced suspensions in line with local policies or adopted closed-loop personnel management. 

AUO Solar announced on Friday that the company will suspend production from April 8 to 12, and will deploy inventory to reduce the impact on customers during the period.

Storage giant EMC said on the same day that its subsidiary in the city will extend the temporary closure to April 12, and it will resume operations pending government approval. 

Apple's supplier Unimicron Technology Corp also released a notice on Wednesday saying that its two subsidiaries in Kunshan extended suspension from April 6 to 8.

Experts noted that the suspension may affect the global electronics industry chain over the short run, as Kunshan is an important industrial center of Taiwan's technology companies, which are main PCB providers for European and US electronic enterprises.

"As part of the country's logistical network was impacted by the epidemic, the transportation of raw materials will be disrupted, affecting the shipment of electronic products," Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Ma Jihua, a veteran tech industry analyst, noted that the suspension will extended delivery time of products to overseas companies, which may affect the global electronic supply chains in short term.

However, Ma added that since the outbreak of the epidemic, a large number of companies have improved their countermeasures and strengthened stocking, thus there will not be much impact on the global electronic production in the long term.

Xiang also said that many firms have adopted closed-loop production, not only ensuring the output, but also strengthening regulations on epidemic prevention and control.