Apple’s main supplier, Foxconn Technology Group, plans to increase its investments to more than $1.2 billion (roughly Rs. 9,877 crore) in southern India’s Karnataka state and add two component factories there, expanding a steady diversification from China to mitigate the risks of US economic and technology sanctions.
At least one of the factories that the Taiwanese company plans to construct in Karnataka will produce Apple parts, including for iPhones, people familiar with the matter said. A formal announcement is expected as early as this week, the people said, declining to be named as the matter isn’t public. The second plant will also be in Karnataka, but their exact location has yet to be decided.
Foxconn is spending $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,115 crore) on these two complexes on top of a $700 million (roughly Rs. 5,760 crore) facility it aims to build on a 300-acre site close to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, Bloomberg News previously reported. That plant is likely to assemble iPhones and expected to create about 1,00,000 jobs.
The additional sites will bring the Apple partner’s envisioned new spending for India north of $1.2 billion, a big outlay for a Taiwanese company that traditionally assembles the vast majority of devices for Apple and other US brands from central and southern China.
Foxconn’s moves in India highlight how the South Asian nation has fast become a popular destination for manufacturers scouting for an alternative to China amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. It’s also the result of a shift in the global supply chain that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, and could reshape the way electronics are made.
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