Apple AirPods. Apple AirPods. (AP photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Apple has asked some of its suppliers to shift some AirPods and Beats headphone manufacturing to India as the company looks to diversify its supply chain from China.
As tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to rise and with China’s continuance of its zero-COVID policy, Apple is looking to reduce supply chain disruption risks by increasing production in India as soon as next year, sources told Nikkei.
Major Taiwanese Apple supplier Foxconn is gearing up to produce Beats headphones in India, while the contract electronics maker is also keen to eventually manufacture AirPods in the South Asian country too, two sources told the outlet.
Chinese Apple supplier Luxshare Precision Industry, which currently assembles AirPods in China and Vietnam, is also looking to move some production to India, Nikkei said. For now, Luxshare plans to concentrate more on its Vietnam AirPod facilities and could be slower setting up operations in India.
Apple has been gradually increasing its production base in India since 2017, when it had one of its smaller Taiwanese suppliers, Wistron, start making older iPhone models there. Fast forward to today and Apple is currently assembling its latest iPhone (iPhone 14) in India.
The American tech company had originally planned to use production in India to meet domestic Indian demand, but it is now developing the South Asian country into a strategic production base to serve European markets, sources told Nikkei.
Apple must rely on Foxconn if it wants to significantly increase production in India, according to Nikkei. The Taiwanese company has been in the nation since 2015 and has facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, another Taiwanese Apple supplier, Pegatron, has an iPhone manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.
Analysts told Nikkei that going forward, India will likely emerge as an important alternative electronics production base for those looking to diversify away from China.
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