People walk past a Foxconn logo in Taipei on January 31, 2019. - Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn said on January 31 it was reassessing plans to build a cutting-edge factory in Wisconsin, an investment hailed by President Donald Trump as a flagship example of his push to revive America's manufacturing sector.
Foxconn, a supplier to Apple, reportedly plans to spend about $700 million on a new plant in India to increase local production.
According to Bloomberg, this highlights a rapid departure from China as a manufacturing hub amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
New India Facility
Insiders said the facility to manufacture iPhone components would be constructed on a 300-acre site adjacent to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Some of these sources also claimed that the plant might be used to build Apple's iPhones and that Foxconn may utilize the facility to manufacture components for its emerging electric car sector.
Over 100,000 new jobs are anticipated to be created at the new manufacturing plant in India. Over 200,000 people are now employed in the company's massive iPhone assembly plant in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, with that number increasing during the peak production season.
On Friday, Mar. 3, many government officials, including India's deputy IT minister, tweeted confirmation of specifics around the impending factory. These include a remark that it would be completed immediately soon.
Foxconn is still finalizing investment and project specifics, so the plans might yet change, according to Bloomberg's sources. It is also unclear if the factory represents the additional capacity for Foxconn or if manufacturing is being moved there from somewhere else, maybe one of Foxconn's plants in China.
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Shift From China
This is one of Foxconn's greatest outlays in a single country so far, and it highlights the fact that China might soon lose its position as the world's top maker of consumer electronics.
Suppliers in China are under pressure from Apple and other American firms to expand operations to India and Vietnam. The global supply chain is undergoing a reevaluation in light of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, which has the potential to alter the production of electronics throughout the world.
Covid-related delays at the Zhengzhou facility caused a steep drop in production just before the holidays, prompting Apple to reconsider its supply chain's reliance on China. The announcement by Foxconn is the latest indicator that suppliers may relocate production outside of China much more quickly than planned.
As Western investors and businesses turn against Beijing's crackdowns on the private sector, Foxconn's choice would be a triumph for the administration of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which sees a chance to reduce India's tech imbalance with China.
India has provided subsidies to Apple suppliers like Foxconn, which has been producing the latest iPhone models in Tamil Nadu since last year. Wistron and Pegatron, two smaller competitors, have also expanded in India, and local manufacturers like Jabil have started producing AirPods.
Related Story: iPhone Maker Foxconn Diversifies Away From China, Enters Vietnam
