As Apple continues to make moves to lessen its production reliance on China, Apple iPhone assembly partner Foxconn plans to invest $700 million to build an iPhone plant in Bengaluru, India.
The Taiwanese company has factories in Taiwan and mainland China. Sources tell Bloomberg that Foxconn plans to invest about $700 million in a new plant in India to ramp up iPhone part production. The facility may also be used for iPhone assembly and electric vehicle part production.
The new Foxconn plant is expected to be about half the size of the huge iPhone assembly facility in Zhengzhou, China – which is known as iPhone City. The new plant is expected to employ approximately 100,000 workers. The Zhengzhou factory employs 200,000 workers.
Bloomberg’s sources tell them the plans are still in early stages and could change.
Apple has been working to ease its reliance on China as its manufacturing base, thanks to COVID-19 disruptions over the last few years. A recent COVID-related disruption at Foxconn’s main assembly plant is said to have cost Apple a billion dollars per week.
Originally, the first India-made iPhones were limited to a single model – the original iPhone SE – and were intended only for sale in India.
Since then, Apple has expanded its iPhone production in India. iPhone 14 assembly had been expected to begin simultaneously in both China and India. While the company didn’t quite pull off the simultaneous production, the iPhone 14 did begin assembly in India. This year’s iPhone 15 lineup is expected to begin simultaneous production later this year.