Apple Teaching Swift and Robotics Across Its India Supply Chain

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced a new Education Hub in Bengaluru as part of an expanded effort to provide technical training and skills development for employees across its supply chain in India.

Apple said the new Apple Education Hub in Bengaluru will serve as a centralized training and coordination facility for supplier employees in India, marking the company's first education hub of its kind in the country. The hub will begin offering courses in March and operates in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education, which will provide faculty and curriculum support focused initially on digital literacy and Swift programming.

In parallel with the Bengaluru hub, Apple is broadening its suite of development courses at more than 25 supplier facilities across the country. The updated curriculum will be introduced starting with Tata Electronics and is designed to cover digital literacy, Swift coding, robotics, automation technology, and smart manufacturing practices. Apple said these offerings are funded through its global $50 million Supplier Employee Development Fund, which supports education and skills training initiatives across the company's supply chain.

The same spirit of innovation that drives our products also guides our commitment to supporting people across our global supply chain. We are thrilled to expand our technical training courses in India, giving thousands of employees the opportunity to learn valuable new skills and explore new paths for career growth.

The company said the new courses build on an existing portfolio of more than 75 programs currently available to supplier employees in India. The offerings span technical skills, professional development, health education, and rights awareness training, which Apple says are designed to ensure workers are informed about workplace standards and protections. Apple works with international organizations and local partners to deliver these programs.

Apple's expanded training effort also includes plans to scale its robotics education program, which launched in India in December 2024. The initiative focuses on training factory educators in dedicated robotics labs, after which those educators adapt the material and conduct hands-on sessions within their own facilities. Apple said it plans to extend the robotics program to additional supplier sites in India later this year.

Apple also announced plans to grow its Vocational Education for Persons with Disabilities program in India. The program recently launched with Salcomp and seeks to provide employment and professional development opportunities for people with disabilities within Apple's supply chain, as well as improve safety, accessibility, and inclusivity practices at manufacturing facilities. To date, the program has supported more than 18,000 supplier employees around the world and builds on Apple's partnership with Enable India.

Article Link: Apple Teaching Swift and Robotics Across Its India Supply Chain

 

[ForkHandles]

You have to love the Indian government. The hoops they have made Apple jump through are great, in order to reap profits they have to invest in the country’s education and welfare.

Love it.

Of course rich philanthropists have done this for a long time, Stanford University was created by the owner of the Railroads. It’s just refreshing seeing the Indians make this happen upfront, just in case Apple forgot about its huge wealth and its propensity for doing great things (not just for shareholders).

 

[apparatchik]

You have to love the Indian government. The hoops they have made Apple jump through are great, in order to reap profits they have to invest in the country’s education and welfare.

Love it.

Of course rich philanthropists have done this for a long time, Stanford University was created by the owner of the Railroads. It’s just refreshing seeing the Indians make this happen upfront, just in case Apple forgot about its huge wealth and its propensity for doing great things (not just for shareholders).

This has little to do with the Indian government, Apple has set up similar hubs around the world wherever it makes sense, regardless.

 

[magamo]

Swift programmers now have to compete not just against highly educated yet cheap Indian software engineers but also against not-so-highly-educated Indians on top of AI.

 

[ForkHandles]

This has little to do with the Indian government, Apple has set up similar hubs around the world wherever it makes sense, regardless.

That maybe true. But if you’re thinking that the Indian government gave Apple access to 1,643 million consumers with no strings attached, I fear you maybe mistaken.

 

[TSE]

India will overtake China and be a major threat to us in 30-40 years mark my words.

They are ambitious, intelligent, and incredibly hardworking peoples.

 

[The_Gream]

India will overtake China and be a major threat to us in 30-40 years mark my words.

They are ambitious, intelligent, and incredibly hardworking peoples.

Only if the west doesn’t wake up and put a stop to it.

I have a hard time understanding some of Indias thinking. They where once part of the British empire, you would think that once they had control back they would have worked on developing stronger ties with Britains allies to have become the manufacturing hub of the world 30-40 years ago instead of that title going to communist controlled China.
I feel they missed their boat, if China is pushing as hard on robot labor as some reports say, cheap Indian labor won’t be enough to move from China, when China’s robot work force can run 24/7 365 days year.

 

[Wx_Man]

All the smiling factory workers in the attached photo above….don’t realize they are learning how to train their inevitable replacements.

 

[Dreamweaver12]

Now that's interesting. I recall Tim Cook saying on several occasions that the reason they manufacture in China is *not* for low labor costs, but instead because of skillsets they cant find anywhere else.

I've now seen quite a few articles about Apple having to invest in Indian supply chains and training/education to get them up to speed to build for Apple. So again, why isnt Apple doing this in the United States instead of India? Skillsets is no longer a valid excuse.

 

[haunebu]

Anything to avoid manufacturing products here in America, right Tim Cook?

 

[ForkHandles]

Now that's interesting. I recall Tim Cook saying on several occasions that the reason they manufacture in China is *not* for low labor costs, but instead because of skillsets they cant find anywhere else.

I've now seen quite a few articles about Apple having to invest in Indian supply chains and training/education to get them up to speed to build for Apple. So again, why isnt Apple doing this in the United States instead of India? Skillsets is no longer a valid excuse.

Things get made in China because everything is available in China, there manufacturing world is so intense that all components can be sourced, new components can be designed and delivered within days.

Computer chips get made in Taiwan because every building in Tapei is there to house, legal, technical, financial, logistical skills that are required to make the best chips in the world.

Software gets invented in Silicon Valley because all of the skills, finances, legal, cloud funders, hedge funders live within ten miles to make it happen.

Stocks get introduced to the world in Manhattan, they have all the banks and insurance and risk assessors and under writers within a square mile.

There’s a reason certain things don’t happen in Idaho, they have infrastructure too, for potatoes. It’s not as sexy but they’re absolute experts.

 

[tazdotcom]

Sounds good but...

 

[Doomtomb]

Anything to avoid manufacturing products here in America, right Tim Cook?

Yes

 

[svish]

Good to hear about this and also the fact that Apple is expanding its presence in India in multiple forms.

 

[Fallforward]

Some thoughts having worked in many countries including India and less so China.

India:

• huge market for Apple
• 300 milion people who tend to be highly educated and have terrific work ethic. Their standard of living is surprisingly close or even better than the USA based on purchasing power parity and the fact that they are emersed within a seperate economy of 900 million people in deep poverty who serve them as maids, drivers, cooks, nannies, etc.
• when US companies do offshoring whether IT or call centers, the workers come from that first category. The person with the accent helping you on the phone probably has a college education. They tend to be young, bright and diligent. The IT folks tend to have a good team ethic and very into meeting international ISO/IEC standards for quality management, etc.
• when companies like Apple move manufacturing to India, the manual labor tends to come from the poverty group. What an American might see as misuse of cheap labor is seen there as a huge opportunity with intense competition to get accepted. The company provides fleets of buses for the majority of workers to-from their homes. Such safe and controlled transportation is particularly important for female workers. To the extent they also have dorms, it's not the horrific China style mega-dorms and they are more likely to go home weekends.
• what India lacks is the supply chain around Apple that exists in China

China:

• huge market for Apple
• The workers have largely been migrants from rural areas. It often has involved tremendous sacrifice and feelings of isolation from loved ones. They often send much of their wages back to their home.
• What about that China supply chain? China’s contribution is large in number but lower‑value, lower‑tech, labor‑intensive, plus some mid‑tech components. High‑value components (processing, memory and analog chips, displays and display subsystems, sensors, camera components) overwhelmingly come from Taiwan, Korea (Samsung, SK Hynix, LG, etc), and the U.S. (Apple, Qorvo, Micron, TI, Corning etc with declining Qualcomm & Broadcom) and even Japan (Sony). An iPhone assembled in China was not "made in China" in terms of dollar value add.

 

[tranceme]

That maybe true. But if you’re thinking that the Indian government gave Apple access to 1,643 million consumers with no strings attached, I fear you maybe mistaken.

Fully agree. I have been working with India for over 20 years in high tech. There are always strings attached.

 

[deeddawg]

Some thoughts having worked in many countries including India and less so China.

India:

• huge market for Apple
• 300 milion people who tend to be highly educated and have terrific work ethic. Their standard of living is surprisingly close or even better than the USA based on purchasing power parity and the fact that they are emersed within a seperate economy of 900 million people in deep poverty who serve them as maids, drivers, cooks, nannies, etc.
• when US companies do offshoring whether IT or call centers, the workers come from that first category. The person with the accent helping you on the phone probably has a college education. They tend to be young, bright and diligent. The IT folks tend to have a good team ethic and very into meeting international ISO/IEC standards for quality management, etc.
• when companies like Apple move manufacturing to India, the manual labor tends to come from the poverty group. What an American might see as misuse of cheap labor is seen there as a huge opportunity with intense competition to get accepted. The company provides fleets of buses for the majority of workers to-from their homes. Such safe and controlled transportation is particularly important for female workers. To the extent they also have dorms, it's not the horrific China style mega-dorms and they are more likely to go home weekends.
• what India lacks is the supply chain around Apple that exists in China

China:

• huge market for Apple
• The workers have largely been migrants from rural areas. It often has involved tremendous sacrifice and feelings of isolation from loved ones. They often send much of their wages back to their home.
• What about that China supply chain? China’s contribution is large in number but lower‑value, lower‑tech, labor‑intensive, plus some mid‑tech components. High‑value components (processing, memory and analog chips, displays and display subsystems, sensors, camera components) overwhelmingly come from Taiwan, Korea (Samsung, SK Hynix, LG, etc), and the U.S. (Apple, Qorvo, Micron, TI, Corning etc with declining Qualcomm & Broadcom) and even Japan (Sony). An iPhone assembled in China was not "made in China" in terms of dollar value add.

Good comment, and aligns with my experience with my Indian colleagues over the years.

You're certainly correct that the educated and (relatively) affluent part of the population is a significant market in itself for products produced in India. And with the tax incentives and other governmental mandates, there's a significant push towards domestic electronics manufacture to serve the domestic market.

 

[quietstormSD]

They should do something like this in the US. A lot of people need to upgrade their skill set here too, not just in third world countries.