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IDC released a report on Wednesday showing that tablet shipments have grown by 8% to 6.8 million units in China since Q1 of 2021, compared with a decline of 5% in global markets in the first quarter of this year. Guo Tianxiang, a senior analyst with IDC said that China’s epidemic situation and accompanying lockdown measures have boosted consumers’ demand for tablets. Guo also noted that lockdowns in Shanghai and surrounding areas haven’t had any impact on the supply chain and production of tablets. [IDC, in Chinese]

Li Auto forecasts second-quarter revenue of up to RMB 7.04 billion ($1.11 billion) on Tuesday, far below the average analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg of RMB 11 billion. China’s ongoing Covid outbreaks and related lockdown measures have weighed heavily on local supply chains, impacting the forecast. Driven by strong local demand, the automaker posted first-quarter revenue of RMB 9.56 billion for 2022 Q1, up 167.5% year-on-year, with net loss narrowing significantly to RMB 10.9 million from RMB 360 million a year earlier. President Shen Yanan said that over half of the company’s suppliers have resumed operations following widespread lockdown measures but warned that supply uncertainties could continue to affect production.

Aptiv, a US auto parts maker whose customers include Tesla and General Motors, has suspended shipments of some parts to clients after new Covid cases were confirmed among workers at its Shanghai plant, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. This kind of supply issue could prohibit automakers from resuming full production, with Tesla having already suspended most of its production at its Shanghai facility due to a lack of sufficient resources, another Reuters report said on Tuesday. The US electric vehicle maker produced 10,757 vehicles last month following three weeks of suspended operations, figures from the China Passenger Car Association show. [Reuters]

Tesla sold just 1,512 cars via wholesale channels in China in April, decreasing by over 95% month-on-month, and representing a decline of 24,333 units from a year earlier, according to figures published by China Passenger Car Association on Tuesday. The country’s passenger EV sector saw a significant drop with wholesale sales down by 38.5% from a month ago to 280,000 vehicles in April, a result of weeks of lockdown measures in Shanghai. Tesla’s Shanghai facility was shut down for 22 days in April and the US automaker has again halted production due to a parts shortage, Reuters reported Monday citing sources.

China’s Covid-19 vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech releases its 2021 financial report on April 30, recording sales of $19.4 billion for the year, a 3,700% increase from sales of $510.6 million recorded in 2020. The company’s net income also grew by 7,700% to $14.5 billion for 2021. According to the financial results, this leap is due to higher sales of the Covid vaccine and the sales growth of the company’s other products. According to the report, the company has now provided 2.8 billion doses of its Covid vaccine globally. [Sinovac Biotech press release]

Tesla’s Shanghai plant resumed production on Tuesday after being temporarily shut down for more than three weeks because of recent omicron outbreaks in China’s biggest city, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. Tesla will ramp up production and aim to hit maximum output for a single shift over the next three to four days as more than 8,000 employees have come back to work, the report said, citing Song Gang, a senior director at Tesla. The Shanghai Gigafactory is normally able to produce 2,000 vehicles each day over the course of two shifts when at full capacity. The plant lost 22 days of output due to its closure from March 28 to April 18. [Xinhua, in Chinese]

China’s National Bureau of Statistics released national industry production data for 2022 Q1 on Monday, saying the country produced 80.7 billion integrated circuits during the period, a decline of 4.2% compared to the same period last year. Chip production has been falling since August last year, but the latest figures are thought to have been further impacted by Covid-related lockdowns across the country. The Bureau’s official figures also noted that overall production across all industries saw a growth of 5% year-on-year in March, slightly lower than February’s 7.5%. [National Bureau of Statistics, in Chinese]

Xiaopeng He, CEO of major Chinese EV maker XPeng, posted on social media on Wednesday that the company’s assembly factories across China will be forced to stop operations in May if the company cannot find a workaround for the supply chain disruption caused by Shanghai’s covid lockdowns. He also stated that XPeng is seeking assistance from the government to address the issues and to resume production in the Yangtze delta region. Xpeng’s rival NIO halted production on April 9, while the lockdowns have also led to automakers such as Tesla and Volkswagen shuttering their Shanghai plants. [The Paper, in Chinese]