Chinese Companies Resume Production While Indian and Japanese Plants Close

Just as manufacturing around the world is shutting down, China's biggest firms are kickstarting operations.

Huawei is prioritizing its 5G base station business, Nikkei reports, and CEO Ren Zhengfei tells SCMP the company is "racing" to develop new technologies. Yesterday, the tech giant unveiled a new 5G flagship phone.

• But...the phone won't have any Google services, thanks to U.S. trade restrictions. Because of that, Huawei has slashed 2020 smartphone shipment projections by around 20%.

Tencent launched a Zoom competitor for overseas markets. And ByteDance is still building its empire as TikTok engagement continues to climb.

But activity is slowing down big time everywhere else:

• In India, where 1.3+ billion are under lockdown, the major smartphone manufacturers have suspended operations.
• In Japan, Toyota will pause production at five plants next month.
• In the U.S., Apple may postpone its 5G iPhone launch by months, Nikkei reports.

Keep in mind: All the countries currently in shutdown mode are consumer markets for made-in-China hardware, so business won't be back to usual for anyone soon.