China’s power cuts and blackouts have affected more than 19 provinces, causing factories to shut down and disrupting the global supply chain. Several Apple and Tesla suppliers and companies in the chemical industry suspended their production, which caused the prices of raw materials to soar.
Chinese news portal Sohu reported on Sept. 28 that workers at Advanced Semiconductor Engineering’s (ASE) plant in Kunshan were sent home because the power supply was cut off. On Sept. 26, the authorities in Kunshan, a county-level city in Jiangsu Province, issued an urgent notice, requiring local businesses to curb energy consumption. ASE was given an additional day to complete its work-in-progress (WIP) production, which refers to partially finished goods awaiting completion.