Apple will diversify its production of iPhones with a new Foxconn location in India, in addition to investing millions of dollars in research centers in Germany.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese maker of Apple ‘s iPhones, will open a new plant in India, authorities said on Friday, marking another step by the US firm in its strategy to diversify its production outside of China. The bulk of Apple ‘s smartphone production is in China, but strict anti-covid policies in recent years and tensions with the United States have called this model into question.
” Apple phones will soon be manufactured in the state,” Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S. Bommai tweeted on Friday. “In addition to creating some 100,000 jobs, it will create a lot of opportunities in Karnataka,” the state where Bangalore’s technology hub is located, he added.
According to local press, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu visited Bangalore on Friday, after meeting this week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Our talks spanned various topics, focused on strengthening India’s technology and innovation ecosystem,” Modi tweeted on Wednesday.
Liu signed an agreement on Thursday to create electronics factories, which will create 100,000 jobs in the neighboring state of Telangana. Apple and Foxconn did not respond to AFP’s questions.
Foxconn, the world’s largest manufacturer of iPhones, has been working for Apple in India since 2019, at its plant located in the state of Tamil Nadu. Two other Taiwanese companies, Wistron and Pegatron, also make and assemble Apple devices in India. Apple announced last September that it will manufacture its new iPhone 14 in India.
Despite all this, India currently represents less than 5% of Apple ‘s production chain , according to the Bloomberg agency, behind the United States, China, Japan and five other countries.
Apple: One billion euros more in its technology center in Germany
US giant Apple announced Thursday that it planned to invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) over the next few years in its chip development center in the German city of Munich. This measure, which will take place over the next six years, follows an earlier commitment of 1 billion euros in 2021, when Apple made Munich the headquarters of its new European “Silicon Design Center”, according to a statement from the group.
This expansion into Germany is part of Apple ‘s global strategy to increasingly develop its own chips for its iPhones, MacBooks, iPads and other devices. These research and development facilities, dedicated to the Apple Silicon processors that make up the group’s devices, were inaugurated at the end of 2022 and are the “largest engineering center” of the group in Europe.
This new investment package will be used, among other things, for the opening of more laboratories and spaces that allow “an even closer collaboration between our more than 2,000 engineers in Bavaria,” according to Apple . The American giant has had a base in Munich since 1981 and currently has more than 4,500 employees in Germany, mainly in the south of the country, focused on the development of semiconductors.
The Bavarian capital is already home to other headquarters of industrial heavyweights, such as Siemens or BMW, and is becoming one of the mainstays of technological innovation in Europe.