First quarter of 2023

Apple’s biggest supplier Foxconn says its revenue of February 2023 fell by 11.65% compared to the same month in 2022. This was because there was weaker demand for electronics. Founders established Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) in Taiwan in 1974. The company is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer.

Its revenue in February 2023 was more than $13bn (£10.8bn), and this amount was the second highest figure on record for the month. Foxconn said its revenue in January had jumped by 48.2% from a year earlier to hit a record high. In addition, its manufacturing in Zhengzhou returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Therefore, the Taiwanese company experienced both good and bad in the first quarter of 2023. It implies how difficult to meet demand in the consumer electronics market. For example, the shipments of smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2022 were more than 300 million units. There is no market in the world that sell more than 300 million hardware in a single quarter.

In this sense, it is very difficult for suppliers, original equipment manufacturers and experts to predict how many units of products will be sold in three months. There are many factors to affect consumers’ mind and behavior. They are economic condition in each country, inflation rate, salary, image, advertisement and others. From suppliers’ point of view, they have to adjust against market condition to keep high factory utilization rate.

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