Apple supplier Foxlink’s fire safety systems defective, says Indian official

Chittoor — Most of the fire safety equipment at Apple supplier Foxlink’s facility in southern India is not functional, a government official said on Tuesday, a day after a huge fire shut down production.

The factory, which makes charging cables for iPhones, is located in the Chittoor district of India’s Andhra Pradesh state and is unlikely to resume full operations for two months, raising supply chain concerns for the US tech giant, reports said earlier in the day.

Foxlink was engulfed in a huge fire on Monday that led part of the building to collapse. There were no casualties.

Except for fire extinguishers, safety systems such as smoke detectors, sprinklers and fire hydrants were in faulty condition, leading to a slower response in containing the fire, said J Ramanaiah, who leads the fire services department in the region.

“The smoke detector was not activated and fire alarms didn’t go off,” Ramanaiah added.

Apple and Foxlink did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Foxlink operates a total of 10 assembly lines in two separate facilities at the plant in Andhra, of which four were completely destroyed, one source with knowledge of the situation said. Production at the remaining six assembly lines is expected to resume later this week.

A second source familiar with the developments said Foxlink is a key supplier for Apple in India, and “there could be potential supply chain disruptions for iPhones made in India, or shipped from India”.

Foxlink also exports charging cables and some other equipment to countries such as China and Hong Kong, with total exports worth $32.2m since 2022, according to figures from a private customs data provider.

Last year, the data indicates Foxlink exported about 7-million USB-C to lightening cables from India, and in January shipped 1.6-million units. Foxlink and Apple did not respond to questions about the customs data. Foxlink’s Indian sales numbers were not immediately clear.

The incident is the latest problem to hit Apple suppliers in India, from where it is increasingly ramping up manufacturing and exports. Apple has 11 suppliers in the country.

Production was hit at a facility of Apple contract manufacturer Foxconn in 2021 due to food poisoning among workers, and a Wistron India plant was affected by worker unrest in 2020 over nonpayment of wages.

On Tuesday, smoke was still rising from parts of the factory. Many workers gathered outside the facility, with some anxious about the status of their contract jobs. They said the fire broke out during lunch break on Monday, and some air conditioners exploded as the fire spread.

“The fire became uncontrollable,” one worker said, declining to be named.

The regional fire department will submit a report on the incident to state authorities, which will then decide whether to form a panel to investigate the matter further or not, said Shuvana Sony, zone manager of the industrial park where the Foxlink plant is located.

A police official said on Monday losses were worth about $12m at the factory.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has bet big on India since it began assembling iPhones in the country in 2017 in line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing.

Reuters