LG, the Latest to Ban Employee Travels to China

All traveling and local LG employees are now officially banned from traveling to China amidst the coronavirus crisis. Those in China must go home, while future trips to the country must get approved through a special request.

Alongside Facebook and gaming hardware maker, LG is among the first companies to publicly limit employee travel. The South Korean company implemented a complete ban, as opposed to them.

Facebook halted “non-essential employee travel” to the country, while also ordering traveling employees to return home. Although the social media site is banned in China, some offices still stand in the country to use Chinese technology.

Gaming laptops and accessory manufacturer Razer took similar measures. The California-based company works with Chinese suppliers to manufacture some of its hardware like gaming mice, keyboards, headsets, and laptops.

Another American tech company HyperX, along with major tech companies Google and Microsoft haven’t made any comments yet.

International airline companies Delta, American Airlines, United Airlines, and British Airways suspended travels to China in the past week.

Delta was the latest of three US airlines to temporarily reduce flights due to costumers’ coronavirus concerns. Trips between the US and China will halt from February 6 to April 30.

The company will reach out to those who already booked flights at those dates to find alternative plans.

American Airlines canceled flights between Los Angeles and Mainland China from February 7 to March 26. United Airlines, on the other hand, suspended flights in some US hubs to China between February 1 to 8.

British Airways banned all direct flights to Mainland China, although trips to Hong Kong are still ongoing. The British Foreign Office warned against traveling there unless it’s “essential.”

Coronavirus on Tech and Global Economy

The outbreak sparked one of the slowest growth rates in almost 30 years, posing a significant challenge for the Chinese. Analysts worry about a shutdown in the country’s economy, which will most likely affect the rest of the world.

The World Economic Forum President Borge Brende warned that the world is experiencing a synchronized slowdown in the global economy. Last week, he noted that external shocks could trigger a global recession.

A shutdown of major industrial stations in the country and dropping consumption by Chinese consumers could impact the overall economy.

Contrarily, market analysts claim this will benefit US-based memory suppliers outside China, such as Micron and Western Digital.

Beijing closed factories from prominent manufacturers like Foxconn, Johnson & Johnson, and Samsung in the past week. Other centers of the industry will remain closed for the next one or two weeks.

Apple did limit travel to China and closed a retail store amid the outbreak. CEO Tim Cook made the announcement with a call to investors after their quarterly earnings release.

Sales around the city of Wuhan were declining, but so have their other stores in China. Additionally, their retail traffic was negatively impacted because of the situation.

The company is providing care kits to employees in the Wuhan area while taking employees’ temperatures for flu-like symptoms.

The Chinese government also shut down Tesla’s new factory in Shanghai, delaying Model 2 manufacturing. Its facilities will remain shut down until February 9.