BEIJING, January 23  (TMTPOST)— Apple Inc. seems to accelerate its diversification of supply chain and a pivot from China, the biggest production base of the U.S. tech giant.  

Source: Visual China

Apple is looking to scale up production of iPhone in India and make 25% of the devices there, Piyush Goyal, the Commerce and Industry Minister, said on Monday at the inaugural session of the B20 India Inception Meeting in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The minister cited Apple as a successful example to show foreign companies benefited from Indian government’s transparent policies and other efforts to attract foreign investors. He said Apple has already made about 5% to 7% of its production in India, and “If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25% of their manufacturing. They launched their most recent models from India, manufactured in India.”  

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on Goyal’s remarks. If the target that the official revealed is accurate, it is the latest move for Apple to reduce its dependence on production in China.   

Apple announced in last April to start making iPhone 13 in India, which seems as one of signs to highlight increasing importance of countries like India, Vietnam and Mexico for suppliers who try to improve diversification of production away from China. Five months later, Apple confirmed it was assembling iPhone 14 in India, less than three weeks from its release of the new iPhone series.The confirmation suggests India will first make the latest flagship iPhone.  

In early October, Apple was reported to talk with suppliers to move some AirPods and Beats production to India and begin production as early as 2023, which will allow India for the first time to become a region for its headphone supply.

A report last month said Apple was telling suppliers to plan more actively for assembling its products in other Asian countries, particularly India and Vietnam. Another report that month said Apple plans to for the first time make its MacBook computers in Vietnam in 2023, and has tapped Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer for the production in the Southeastern Asian country as early as around May.

JP Morgan Chase in late September estimated Apple to build India as its global manufacturing center for iPhone by 2025. According to the Wall Street firm, Apple will shift 5% of total iPhone 14 outputs to India by the end of 2022, and further expand capacity so that India-made iPhones could account for 25% of worldwide production by 2025.

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