India and Vietnam to be Apple's future manufacturing hubs

According to Counterpoint Research analysts Ivan Lam and Shenghao Bai, key electronics manufacturers are moving quickly to diversify their capacity worldwide, taking advantage of local incentive schemes. 

The multi-year endeavor, which began before Covid-19 and China's economically suffocating lockdowns, may see leading partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co shift up to 30% of its capacity to those Asian nations and Brazil, they claimed.

They warn that a direct alternative for China is unlikely in the near future; nevertheless, companies such as Hon Hai, commonly known as Foxconn, and fellow Taiwanese assembler Pegatron Corp. are laying the groundwork to handle more of the final assembly and packaging of products outside of China.

Companies have already invested in facilities, production lines, reasonably modern manufacturing processes, and human training in India, led by Foxconn and Pegatron.
The country's large population and high birth rate make it an appealing market for end-products as well as a manufacturing base, while the labor in Vietnam is less expensive than in China.

According to the reports, Vietnam has lured 21 Apple suppliers to work in the nation, despite its inability to create the all-important iPhone phone.

As per Counterpoint data, the number of cell phones manufactured in India increased by 16% in the second quarter of this year, reaching more than 44 million devices.

China, on its part, has seen its workforce drop since 2020, according to World Bank data. The backbone of China's ascent as the world's factory has been a legion of skilled employees who have gotten some education and training.

Apple has done its share to lessen dependency on specific factories or specialized labor by making iPhone product design more modular and transferrable across facilities. The corporation has prioritized the maintenance and implementation of new product assembly.
 

Source: The Times Of India