Foxconn has frozen hiring at many of its manufacturing plants, potentially causing production problems for Apple and HP in the process.

Despite denying the move was not linked to any single client, Apple's stock fell 2.4% in New York trading - signaling a potential problem for the company.

Online speculation also suggests the freeze could be down to HP's lack of demand for its PC products, but Foxconn remains adamant declining demand from either company are not to blame.

"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," the company said in a statement.

"This action is not related to any single customer and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."

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