Micron Technology, one of the world’s biggest memory chip suppliers, on Wednesday said COVID-19 lockdown in the Chinese city of Xian would lead to delays in the supply of its chips, which are commonly used in data centres.

China on Wednesday had locked down the entire 13 million residents of Xi’an after the COVID-19 cluster was found in the city. This company statement comes as Xi’an has further tightened lockdown and started another round of mass testing as it reported the highest daily spike of Covid infections since March 2020.

“Micron is in full compliance with the Xi’an Government’s city closure, which took effect on Dec. 23, 2021. Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members, contractors and the broader Xi’an community,” the company said in a statement.

Micron said that the city’s closure has reduced its team member and contractor workforce at our Xi’an site, resulting in some impact to output levels of our DRAM assembly and test operations there. “We are working with suppliers operating in this region that face similar challenges.”

“We take the threat posed by the spread of COVID-19 seriously and are employing appropriate measures to minimize the risk of virus transmission, including maximizing physical distancing and temporarily reducing workforce density at our Xi’an facility.”

The latest outbreak in Xi’an has affected dozen of cities in 15 provinces and regions.

Earlier this week, more than two dozen officials in Shaanxi provinces were punished by the authorities for their ineffective preventive measures in tackling the COVID-19 spread in the city of Xi’an, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese Central Commission for Discipline Inspection last week punished 26 officials and four local party organizations have been punished for “ineffective preventive measures”. (ANI)