Foxconn’s new iPhone plant in India may also assemble Apple AR headsets

iPhone maker Foxconn has plans to invest $700 million in a new plant in India. With that, the company could ramp up local iPhone production and even be responsible for assembling Apple’s upcoming headsets in the country. The information comes from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.

This plan comes at a time when several manufacturers are moving their production chain from China due to tensions with the United States.

The Taiwanese company, also known for its flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., plans to build the plant to make iPhone parts on a 300-acre site close to the airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the information is not public. The factory may also assemble Apple’s handsets, some of the people said, and Foxconn may also use the site to produce some parts for its nascent electric vehicle business. 

This India plant is expected to create about 100,000 jobs in the country, which is half of what the largest iPhone factory in China can handle during the peak production season of new iPhone models.

Although Apple, Foxconn, and the Indian government didn’t comment on Bloomberg’s story, several government officials, including India’s deputy tech minister, tweeted confirmation of this upcoming plant.

A couple of days ago, BGR reported that AirPods maker GoerTek, one of the many manufacturers exploring locations beyond China, says most Apple suppliers are doing the same due to escalating tension between Beijing and Washington.

“Starting from last month, so many people from the client side are visiting us almost every day,” Yoshinaga said from his offices at GoerTek’s sprawling industrial complex north of Hanoi. The topic that dominates discussions: “When can you move out?”

Currently, the AirPods maker is focusing on expanding its plant in Vietnam, but India is high on client’s whish-lists on when the manufacturer plans to expand to that country.

For the immediate future, reports show Apple is planning to produce the iPhone 15 series in China and India simultaneously. That said, the Chinese country is still the only place Apple manufactures its Pro phones. The company has been diversifying its Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods production to Vietnam and India, but the main core of the Cupertino firm is still in China.

Whether this will disrupt the supply chain depends on the tension between Washington-Beijing still to be seen. BGR will keep reporting on that matter.