Apple has asked suppliers to ensure that shipments from Taiwan to China comply with the latter's customs regulations to avoid them from being held for scrutiny, according to a Nikkei report on Friday.
Sino-US trade tensions have escalated following US House of
Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation's visit to
Taiwan.
The iPhone maker told suppliers that China had started
enforcing a long-standing rule that Taiwanese-made parts and components must be
labeled as made either in "Taiwan, China" or "Chinese
Taipei", the report added, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment.
Apple iPhone assembler Pegatron said its mainland China
plant is operating normally, in response to a media report that shipments to
Pegatron's factory in China were being held for scrutiny by Chinese customs
officials.
Taiwanese supply and assembly partners Foxconn and Pegatron
are ramping up manufacturing efforts as Apple is set to launch its new iPhone
in September.
Meanwhile, Pelosi's trip To Taiwan coincided with US efforts
to convince TSMC – the world's largest chip manufacturer, on which the US is
heavily dependent – to establish a manufacturing base in the US and to stop
making advanced chips for Chinese companies.
US support for Taiwan has historically been based on
Washington's opposition to communist rule in Beijing, and Taiwan's resistance
to absorption by China. But in recent years, Taiwan's autonomy has become a
vital geopolitical interest for the US because of the island's dominance of the
semiconductor manufacturing market.
Recently, the US Congress has passed the Chips and Science Act, which provides $52 billion in subsidies to support semiconductor manufacturing in the US. But companies will only receive Chips Act funding if they agree not to manufacture advanced semiconductors for Chinese companies. © Reuters
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