China's Sichuan province has ordered all factories to shut down for six days to ease a power shortage in the region as a scorching heatwave sweeps across the country.
Sichuan is a key manufactring location for the semiconductor and the power rationing will hit factories belonging to some of the world's biggest electronics companies,including Apple supplier Foxconn and Intel.
The province is also China's lithium mining hub-a key component of electric car batteries- and the shutdown may push uo the cost of the raw material, analysts said.
China is facing its fiercest heat wave in six decades, with temperatures crossing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in dozens of cities. The extreme heat has caused a spike in demand for air conditioning in offices and homes, putting pressure on the power grid. The drought has also depleted river water levels, reducing the amount of electricity produced at hydropower plants.
Sichuan, one of China's largest provinces with 84 million people, told 19 out of 21 cities in the region to suspend production at all factories from Monday to Saturday, according to an "urgent notice" issued on Sunday by the provincial government and the state grid.
The decision was made to ensure the enough power is available for residential use, the notice said.
