After Tesla canceled its plans to reopen Gigafactory Shanghai on Monday, the automaker will remain closed for at least a few more days as pre-ordered semiconductor chips have no place to go.
Tesla’s shutdown of Gigafactory Shanghai has now reached 12 days (including 2 days from March) without production, as semiconductor chips pile up at manufacturing facilities, according to Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, Tesla told suppliers and employees that the factory would be shut down through at least Thursday, according to familiar parties who asked to remain anonymous.
Other issues detailed by Bloomberg include a shortage of truck drivers exacerbating the oversupply of chips at manufacturing plants, and fund managers camping in their offices while waiting to be admitted to a quarantine facility.
Tesla’s Shanghai Factory is Back Online After COVID-19 Pause: Report https://t.co/4EzRsIxG6v
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) March 18, 2022
The skyrocketing COVID-19 cases represent China’s worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, and as the company sticks closely to its high-containment COVID-zero strategy, it’s becoming more difficult to fulfill President Xi Jinping’s request to manage the economic consequences of the surge.
As a result of the lockdowns, some analysts think the containment measures could slow China’s economic growth to rates beneath its 5.5 percent target.
Companies such as Taiwan’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., SMIC and Pegatron are still running their factories through closed-loop systems where workers must live onsite and take routine COVID-19 tests.
