According to a Reuters report, Apple is allegedly investing over $1 billion in its India facility, where its Taiwanese factory assembles iPhones. Apple has very ambitious plans for the country and also plans to open its first Apple Store there by 2021.
Apple is planning to expand its operations and product line in countries other than China, and increasing the production line in India is one of the first steps towards it. The company requested its supplier Foxconn to expand its facility in Sriperumbudur, where the manufacturer already assembles the iPhone XR for the company. One of the sources told Reuters.
“There’s a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the iPhone production out of China.”
The upcoming $1 billion investment is likely to add over 6000 jobs in Sriperumbudur. The expansion will finish in about three years and will allow several other iPhone models to be made and shipped from India.
Neil Shah of Hong Kong-based tech researcher Counterpoint told Reuters:
“With India’s labor cheaper compared with China, and the gradual expansion of its supplier base here, the company will be able to use the country as an export hub.”
Even though India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, the country’s high import taxes only make it possible for the tech giant to account for around 1% of smartphone sales. Therefore, building products locally can help the company in reducing costs by cutting on import tax and increase its sales in the region.
If these recent investments succeed, the company may use Foxconn’s production lines to export iPhones to other countries as well. As stated earlier, the country will be an export hub for Apple in the upcoming years.
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