With the recent protests in China, Apple Inc is accelerating steps to move its production outside the country. According to reports, the production units are likely to be set up in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam.
It is telling suppliers to plan more actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in Asia, particularly, India and Vietnam...to reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Recently, the major iPhone supplier company Foxconn witnessed violent protests from workers over the Covid-19 restrictions and overdue payments. Hundreds of men clashed with the security personnel at the world's biggest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, known as the "iPhone city", and smashed the surveillance cameras installed at the company recently. Hundreds of workers including fresh hires had quit jobs hitting the production of the iPhones.
Since October labour unrest existed at the company. The company was not acting effectively to curb the spread of Covid, alleged the workers.
Meanwhile, reports say that other suppliers in China, which dominated the production for the company for a long time, are also eyeing the company. According to WSJ, two Chinese companies that are in line to get more Apple business are Luxshare Precision Industry Co and Wingtech Technology Co.
The recent protests had led to significant supply chain issues and shortages for Apple Inc. WSJ reported that the economic slump and slowed hiring is proving challenging to outsource production and forge partnerships with new suppliers.
Apple plans to source up to 45% of iPhone production from factories in India, where it currently manufactures in just single digits and to ramp up manufacturing of products like computers, watches and Airpods in Vietnam, WSJ reported.
