We’re today learning of a major acceleration in plans to shift more production of Apple devices from China to India. In less than one year, Foxconn has increased its planned investment in an Indian plant by almost 400%.
It follows a recent report that Apple has told its battery suppliers that it would like as many iPhone 16 batteries as possible to be manufactured in India …
Apple’s desire to reduce its reliance on China as a production hub has been evident for decades, but the pandemic’s effect on the world’s largest iPhone assembly plant has highlighted the urgency. It’s estimated that COVID-19 disruptions have taken a billion dollars per week out of the company.
Apple has targeted India as its second-largest production country. We’ve been hearing ambitious reports for a while now: that a quarter of all iPhones could be made in India by 2025, and that this figure could rise to part of all iPhones by 2027; However, progress has been modest so far.
A fresh report in September indicated that Apple was aiming for a five-fold increase in Indian iPhone production within five years, and today’s news seems to match the scale of that ambition.
Earlier this year, Foxconn announced it would invest $700 million in an iPhone factory in Bangalore, India. That figure then more than doubled to $1. 6 billion, and Bloomberg reports today that it’s even higher to a total of $2. 7 billion, nearly four times as much. the amount initially planned.
Foxconn Technology Group has been granted permission to invest at least $1 billion in a factory it is building in India that will make Apple Inc. products, a pivotal acceleration in its quest to build a hub beyond China.
The world’s biggest assembler of iPhones plans to spend that amount on top of the $1.6 billion it earlier set aside for the 300-acre site close to Bengaluru’s airport, people familiar with the matter said […]
Including the recently approved maximum spend, the Taiwanese company will have set aside about $2. 7 billion for the site, which will be the centerpiece of its production functions in India.
While the factory would possibly reserve some of its production capacity for other customers, it appears that “most of the investment” is committed to Apple.
Another Apple supplier, Tata, is making plans to build one of India’s largest iPhone factories, expanding the country’s production.
Photo: Amanz/Unsplash
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Ben Lovejoy is a British and European technician at 9to5Mac. He is known for his op-eds and magazines, in which he explores his experience with Apple products over time for a more comprehensive review. He also writes fiction, with two tech thrillers, some sci-fi shorts, and a romantic comedy!