- Foxconn will reportedly invest more than $200 million in the new AirPod plant in Telangana and will start manufacturing in the second half of this year.
- The Indian government has given initial clearances to more than a dozen of Apple’s Chinese suppliers to raise production via joint ventures with Indian partners
Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) has bagged an order to make AirPods for Apple Inc and plans to build a factory in Telangana, India to produce the wireless earphones.
The news was first reported by Reuters. Foxconn has become an AirPod supplier for the first time. AirPods are currently made by a range of Chinese suppliers. The news supports Foxconn’s attempts to diversify production away from China.
Foxconn would reportedly invest more than $200 million in a new AirPod plant in Telangana. A subsidiary, Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd, plans to start construction of a manufacturing facility in Telangana in the second half of this year and begin production by the end of 2024 at the earliest, as per the report.
Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics maker and assembler of around 70% of all iPhones.
Earlier in January, Bloomberg had reported that the Indian unit of Jabil Inc. has begun shipping AirPods enclosures, or plastic bodies, to China and Vietnam, where the wireless earphones are assembled.
Apple is building out production in India to reduce its reliance on China, where US trade restrictions and Covid-related disruptions have affected manufacturing in recent months. Its India output has thus far been limited to the iPhone, making AirPods the second Apple product now partially manufactured in the country.
New Delhi has given initial clearances to more than a dozen of Apple’s Chinese suppliers to ramp up production via joint ventures with Indian partners. Luxshare Precision Industry Co Ltd., one of Apple’s Chinese suppliers which makes AirPods, has also reportedly gained approval. In 2020, Luxshare agreed to take over a shuttered Motorola plant in Tamil Nadu state but is yet to begin local manufacturing.