Apple wants to move part of its production currently carried out in China to India. Today, this strategy concerns iPad.
And if the firm with the bitten apple wishes to diversify its production sites after the riots linked to COVID restrictions in China, it has been considering for a longer time the installation of part of its production lines elsewhere in Asia.
The lit fuse of COVID restrictions
Difficult to miss the Chinese news. While the rest of the world has gradually abandoned the restrictions born during the COVID-19 pandemic, even to the point that more conservative countries on the issue such as Japan have even reopened their borders, China has persisted in its zero COVID policy.
A strategy increasingly resented by the population, and which ended up leading to unprecedented demonstrations in the country. And one of the most notable was surely the riot in the giant factory of Foxconn, in Zhengzhou, a factory also called “iPhone City”. As a result, production has slowed, and iPhone 14 shipments have experienced significant delays.
A new episode of tension that prompted Apple to deepen its diversification policy. Thus, according to the CNBC, the management is currently discussing the transfer of part of the production of its iPad from China to India. An interesting option for the American brand, which will have to face two pitfalls. First, the scarcity of personnel with experience in assembling products as complex as iPads. Second, territorial disputes between China and India could complicate the transfer.
Apple no longer wants to depend on China
And COVID is only an accelerator in this file. The Cupertino giant has now identified for several years the vulnerability of such a strong dependence on Chinese workshops. And this, especially when the trade frictions with the United States are not expected to end quickly.
Apple wanted two years ago to transfer part of its iPad production lines to Vietnam, a country that could also host activities related to Apple Watch and MacBooks.
But it is India that should allow him the bulk of this diversification. Already earlier in the year, the manufacturer had started producing iPhone 14s in the south of the country. And the movement should intensify. ” I think that in five years, 35% [des iPhone] will be assembled in India “, thus indicated Gene Munster, of Loop Ventures, to CNBC.
Source : The Verge, CNBC
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