Apple wants to boost production in India to about a quarter of its global total, one of the country’s top government officials said as part of a cunning plan to diversify from its main manufacturing hub in China.
China was great when it was a growing economy and the Americans were trying to get onside with it, but these days working behind the bamboo curtain is getting more problematic. Last year, lockdowns at Foxconn’s main iPhone plant in Zhengzhou led to worker revolts.
India’s trade and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that Apple was already carrying out 5-7 per cent of its manufacturing in India and was aiming at a quarter.
Goyal’s comments are somewhat more aggressive than what Apple’s contract manufacturers have told New Delhi previously. Apple’s three key Taiwanese suppliers — Foxconn, Pegatron. and Wistron — applied for and won financial incentives to ramp up Indian smartphone production and exports.
As part of the plan, up to 20 per cent of iPhone volume will take place in India by end-March 2026,
The minister’s comments seem to echo a JPMorgan Chase & Co. report cited by local media last year that said Apple will make 25 per cent of all iPhones in India by 2025. In addition to not giving a timeline, Goyal didn’t specify whether the higher target would include the assembly of other products in India, such as iPads and MacBook laptops.