SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc is investigating an explosion which killed two people and injured 16 in a factory of Foxconn said to produce the iPad popular 2.
The official news agency Xinhua reported that a large explosion shook the Hongfujin Precision Electronics plant, in a high-tech industrial area west of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province Friday night.
Local officials are also investigating the cause of the explosion. Apple shares closed 1.56% $335.22 on the Nasdaq, which has seen a broad sell-off on eurozone debt concerns.
The explosion at a key plant once belonging to Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. - main partner manufacturing Apple - can affect the supply of iPads and investors were watching closely. Spokesperson of Apple Steve Dowling said that the company was assessing the situation.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragedy at Foxconn plant in Chengdu and our hearts go out to the victims and their families", he said. "We are working closely with Foxconn to understand what caused this terrible event."
Foxconn representatives do not respond immediately.
Securities analyst Ticonderoga Brian White said Chengdu of Foxconn factory makes many iPads because some production was moved to the installation of factories in the South of the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
IPad Apple 2 controls 80 percent of the market booming tablet in which Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd also contribute.
Apple sold 4.69 million iPads last quarter and is scrambling to meet the huge demand for the mobile device, but is strongly delayed. Executives had expected production to ramp up this quarter to meet the demand.
The explosion of the plant is the latest setback for Foxconn, most major manufacturer of contract of the world and a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Ind Co Ltd. Taiwan to the
Last year after having emerged from reports on the poor conditions of work in the factories in southern China, which critics say may have helped the reader several employees to suicide, the Taiwanese company made headlines.
The company is committed to improving the well-being of employees.
With higher salaries in the belt of southern China manufacturing, workplace dispute last year, some Taiwanese manufacturers have chosen to move certain operations within the country, where costs are lower.
Foxconn also has plants in North America and the Mexico, as well as in European countries, including the Slovakia and the Poland.
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