Qualcomm has warned that the coronavirus outbreak in China poses a threat to the mobile industry as growing numbers of firms temporarily shutdown their manufacturing facilities.

Qualcomm’s chief financial officer, Akash Palkhiwala, on a conference call with investors following the release of quarterly results, said the company expects “significant uncertainty around the impact from the coronavirus on handset demand and supply chain”.

His comments come as Nintendo warns customers in Japan that shipments of its Switch console and accessories have been delayed by the outbreak.

The gaming firm said production of the hardware, which takes place in China, where the virus is thought to have originated, had suffered an “inevitable” delay and apologised to customers.

Tesla’s stock also tumbled 17 per cent on Wednesday after news that it was delaying deliveries of its Model 3 cars due to the virus combined with analyst comments warning of its high valuation.

Tesla vice president Tao Lin said on the Weibo social media platform that car deliveries from its new Shanghai plant would be temporarily delayed and that the company planned to restart production on 10 February. The factory was shut following orders from the Chinese government, which is trying to contain the outbreak.

Coronavirus has disrupted business across China, with the government there saying that the death toll had reached 490 as of Tuesday, up 65 from the previous day.

“Given the 3,000 per week China Model 3 production expectations in a country that remains on lockdown, we feel a reset of expectations in Q1 is likely and thus needs to be reflected in the valuation,” Canaccord analyst Jed Dorsheimer wrote in a report.

During its conference call, Qualcomm officials tried to calm analyst concerns over the virus, saying that the biggest 5G markets this year are expected to be in the United States, Korea and Japan, and that the company could weather disruptions.

“If we have an issue, a supply chain issue or demand issue in China, we tend to have the ability to have other regions to back it up,” chief executive Steve Mollenkopf said. “So we tend to look at the business in terms of our planning. We want to make sure that we maintain that strength across different markets.”

Yesterday the South Korean firm LG became the first major technology company to pull out of this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) exhibition, citing concerns about the safety of its employees in the wake of the coronavirus.