China jobs impacted after Huawei row: Manufacturer

Some 10,000 jobs are expected to be cut amid losses for the Chinese technology giant prompted by US blacklisting.

Huawei stock image
Flex is among the world's largest electronics manufacturers and competes against Foxconn in providing manufacturing services for Huawei products [File: Reuters]

Flex Ltd, a contract manufacturer for Huawei that is locked in a dispute with the Chinese tech giant over about $100m worth of assets, said the market situation was affecting some of its jobs in the country.

Chinese financial magazine Caixin reported late on Sunday that some 10,000 Flex jobs in China were expected to be cut as two major factories in Changsha and Zhuhai had stopped work due to its row with Huawei.

While declining to comment on the report, a Flex spokesman said: “After careful review of the market situation and customer need, we are offering impacted employees job opportunities within Flex Zhuhai Industrial Park and other Flex locations.”

The spokesman declined to say how many employees had been affected but denied that it was a layoff. A Flex source said the firm employs some 50,000 people in China, with Zhuhai being its largest base.

Huawei last month said Flex had withheld some 700m yuan ($100m) worth of Huawei goods in its Zhuhai factory after the United States put Huawei on a trade blacklist in mid-May, causing losses for the Chinese company.

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At the time, Flex had said it was “actively working” with Huawei to “find a mutually agreeable way forward” after their partnership had “recently been impacted by unforeseen challenges resulting from the US/China trade situation”.

Dually headquartered in the US and Singapore, Flex is among the world’s largest electronics manufacturers and competes against Foxconn Technology in providing manufacturing services for Huawei products such as smartphones and 5G base stations. 

In June, Foxconn halted production lines for several Huawei phones after the company reduced orders. Later that month, the Taiwanese company denied rumours that it planned to withdraw from mainland China amid uncertainty caused by the US-China trade war

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies