Silicon Valley tech giants brace for coronavirus impact

Silicon Valley tech giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft have either halted or scaled back their operations in China amid the coronavirus crisis.

Silicon Valley tech giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft have either halted or scaled back their operations in China amid the coronavirus crisis. According to Fox News, Google's 10 offices across mainland China up till Taiwan that were shut down for the Lunar New Year would continue to be closed indefinitely.

The California based company extended a donation of 250,000 dollars to the Chinese Red Cross to aid the relief work and a sum of 500,000 dollars was also raised through Google's internal assistance campaign. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple stated that the company has restricted employee visits to China only for matters that are "business-critical", and it is doing its bit by providing donations to groups involved in disease control.

In a conference call with investors that was streamed on Apple's website, Cook said that "the situation is emerging and we're still gathering lots of data points and monitoring it really closely." "We have a wider than usual revenue range for the second quarter due to the greater uncertainty."

The Apple CEO also informed that several of its retail stores in China have slashed their operating hours and are undergoing through sanitization or "deep cleaning" from time to time. Fox News cited Forbes which reported that Microsoft has "advised employees in China to work from home and cancel all non-essential business travel." (ANI)