China was once the country into which all the great industrial nations expanded. Every production location, no matter how small, was moved to the country where production and manufacturing is cheaper than in Western countries.
However, dependence on China has recently become a problem for many international companies. So also for technology giant Apple. The very strict lockdown in China had led to a paralysis of the contract manufacturers.
In addition, the US government is exerting increasing pressure on the technology industry in China, for example by restricting the export of high-tech chips to the country.
In addition, Apple’s main manufacturer, Foxconn, is based in Taiwan, which Beijing’s authoritarian regime considers its own territory – tensions there have been rising recently.
New partner country: India
In its quest to become more independent from China, Apple is therefore leaning more and more on India. In the past fiscal year, the company produced iPhones worth about $7 billion in India, three times as much as in the previous year, the Bloomberg news agency reported on Thursday based on informed people.
Apple’s suppliers expanded their production lines in India at a record pace last year, the report said. In the fall, the upcoming iPhone model series could be produced simultaneously in China and India for the first time, and by 2025 a quarter of the iPhones produced worldwide could come from India.
Apple has not commented on this information to Bloomberg.
100,000 new jobs
India does the rest to attract more Apple production, including government incentives for smartphone production.
iPhone manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron and component suppliers such as Sunwoda, Avary, Foxlink and Salcomp have created a total of nearly 50,000 direct jobs and an estimated 100,000 indirect jobs in India since August 2021, an Indian ministry spokesman said. from Electronics the German news agency earlier this year.
In March, Foxconn announced it would open a major manufacturing facility in Telangana state that should create 100,000 jobs over a decade.
The magnets in the devices would then have to consist entirely of rare earth metals from recycling, Apple announced on Thursday. In addition, circuit boards designed by Apple would be soldered only from recycled tin and plated with recycled gold.
The announcement is a big step towards the goal announced a few years ago to at some point use only recycled material in the production of new appliances. Apple already uses recycled aluminum on a large scale. (sda)
Sources
- With material from the GBA
- reuters.com: Apple now makes nearly 7% of its iPhones in India – Bloomberg News
(t-online/dsc)
Source: Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
