A small fire broke out at a Samsung SDI Co factory, a supplier of batteries for the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices, Reuters reported Wednesday
The incident at the Samsung Electronics Co affiliate’s plant, located in the northern city of Tianjin in China, was caused by waste products including faulty Note 7 batteries, the company and local emergency officials told Reuters.
The fire, which broke out in the part of the factory used for waste, was later put out. There were no casualties or major impact to the factory’s operations, with most of the factory continuing to normality, the company said.
However, local fire officials said the fire was caused by batteries inside the plant.
In a blog post, fire officials said the “material that caught fire was lithium batteries inside the production workshops and some half-finished products.” the Tianjin Fire Department also said 110 firefighters and 19 trucks extinguished the fire.
SDI, which along China’s Amperex Technology Ltd supplied batteries for the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, is now set to start supplying batteries for Samsung’s upcoming device Galaxy S8. The Galaxy S8 is replacing the failed Galaxy Note 7, which was recalled globally after battery issues.
The Korean company said last month that both SDI and Amperex Technology were to blame for the Note 7 failure which cost $5.3 billion on operating profit. Samsung suffered its worst decline in smartphone sales after problems with the Galaxy Note 7, according to tech research firm Gartner. Samsung smartphone sales fell in the third quarter of 2016 by 14.2 percent year over year, making it the company’s worst performance ever.
