People with knowledge of the situation say that Foxconn Technology Team, which has a relationship with Apple Inc., plans to invest about $700 million in a new plant in India to increase manufacturing there. This shows that more and more manufacturing is moving away from China as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise. People who asked not to be named because the information is not public said that the Taiwanese company, which is also known for its flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, plans to build the plant to make iPhone parts on a 300-acre site close to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Some of the people said that the factory could also put together Apple phones, and Foxconn could use the site to make some parts for its new electric vehicle business.
This is one of the biggest investments Foxconn has ever made in India, and it shows how China could lose its title as the world’s biggest maker of consumer electronics. Apple and other US brands are putting pressure on their suppliers in China to look into other places like India and Vietnam. It’s a rethinking of the global supply chain that has sped up because of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. It could change how electronics are made around the world.
About 100,000 jobs are expected to be made at the new factory in India, people said. At the moment, about 200,000 people work at the company’s huge iPhone assembly plant in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, but that number goes up during peak production times.
Because of problems with Covid, production at the Zhengzhou plant dropped right before the holidays. This caused Apple to look again at its supply chain, which relies heavily on China. The decision by Foxconn is the latest sign that suppliers may move production out of China much faster than expected.
People say that the plans could still change because Foxconn is still working on finalising investment and project details. It’s also not clear if the plant is a new source of production or if Foxconn is moving production from other places, like its facilities in China. Apple didn’t want to say anything. Hon Hai’s Chairman Young Liu met with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week. When asked for a comment by email, the company did not respond right away. The government of the state of Karnataka did not answer right away, either. Liu has agreed to work on another manufacturing project in the neighbouring state of Telangana while he is on a tour of India.
Foxconn’s decision would be a big win for Modi’s government, which sees an opportunity to close India’s tech gap with China as Western investors and corporations turn against Beijing’s crackdowns on the private sector. India has given money to Apple suppliers like Foxconn, which started making the newest iPhones at a factory in Tamil Nadu last year. Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp, two smaller competitors, have also grown in India, and suppliers like Jabil Inc. have started making parts for AirPods there.
