Apple’s largest iPhone assembly partner Foxconn has invested $500 million in India to bolster its production capabilities in the South Asian country as part of Apple’s continuing efforts to diversify the supply chain, says a South China Morning Posts report.
Documents filed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange show that Foxconn has invested $500 million into its Indian subsidiary in hopes of increasing its production capacity in India after China’s stringent pandemic controls disrupted production at its main iPhone plant in the city of Zhengzhou.
Foxconn already has an iPhone plant in the country, producing select iPhone models, including the iPhone 14. The company reportedly has plans to make other products, including the iPad.
Production at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant – the largest iPhone factory in the world and which usually hires 300,000 people at this time of the year due to holiday orders – has been severely limited, due to tens of thousands of employees leaving the facility, as well as workers’ protests that turned violent.
Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last week said iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022 will be “significantly lower” than expected due to labor protests at Foxconn’s main iPhone factory in China.
Apple warned last month that the supply of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will be tighter than it previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.
