Samsung has decided to temporarily suspend its activities on its chip factory in Xian, China. The decision, announced Wednesday (29), was prompted by new outbreaks of Covid-19 cases in that region of the country, associated with the Ômicron variant of Sars-CoV-2.
Located in the central region of the Chinese territory, the capital of Shaanxi province has registered a large number of people infected with the new coronavirus in recent weeks. As a result, the local government decided to impose a series of restrictions to contain the spread of the disease, affecting the relocation of factory workers.
“Given the current situation with Covid-19, we have decided to temporarily adjust activities at our production facility in Xian, China. The decision was made in line with our commitment to protecting the health and safety of our employees and partners, which remains our top priority,” explains the South Korean giant.
In the statement, the major tech also said it is taking all necessary steps to prevent customers from being affected by the shutdown at the Chinese unit amid a shortage of potato chips which has impacted several segments. One of the announced actions is the expansion of the production capacity of processors in other industrial plants of the company.
Factory recently expanded
Opened in 2014, Samsung’s factory in Xian is the only memory of the company chip unit outside South Korea. In 2020, it received new investment to expand, with the expansion process concluding in March this year.
Since then, the unit has been responsible for producing approximately 40% of the NAND flash memory potato chips used by the company. All of these opportunities will resume once the blockades in the city are lifted, a representative for the tech giant told the Korea Herald.