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Apple's Largest iPhone Supplier Investing $500 Million in India as Supply Chain Diversification Continues

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Foxconn, Apple's largest supplier, has invested $500 million in India to bolster its production capabilities in the country as the Cupertino tech-giant and its partners ramp up efforts to diversify the supply chain, South China Morning Post reports.

iphone-14-cyber.jpg

The report cites documents filed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange which show that Foxconn has invested $500 million into its Indian subsidiary in hopes of increasing its production capacity in India. Foxconn already has an existing presence in the country, producing select iPhone models, including the iPhone 14 with reported plans to make other products, such as the iPad.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Apple was making more aggressive plans to move its supply chain solely out of China and into other countries such as India and Vietnam. Apple warned last month that the supply of iPhone 14 Pro models would be heavily constrained due to ongoing disruption to Foxconn's iPhone production plants in China.

Ahead of the holidays, the supply of Apple's highest-end iPhone models remains heavily limited, with the company's online store estimating a three-week wait for customers looking for the latest iPhone. Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the company's last earnings call that it's "working hard" to meet the demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Article Link: Apple's Largest iPhone Supplier Investing $500 Million in India as Supply Chain Diversification Continues
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/09/apple-largest-supplier-investing-india/
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Why is it Toyota can assemble cars in America but Apple can’t assemble phones in America?

Amazing we a cheering another American company using foreign labor.

Spare me the iPhone would cost $2000 rhetoric.

The U.S. should start taxing the crap out of American companies that use over 50% of foreign labor.

Crazy folks just support rich people getting richer.
 
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vikingjunior said:
Why is it Toyota can assemble cars in America but Apple can’t assemble phones in America?

Amazing we a cheering another American company using foreign labor.

Spare me the iPhone would cost $2000 rhetoric.

The U.S. should start taxing the crap out of American companies that use over 50% of foreign labor.

Crazy folks just support rich people getting richer.
Click to expand...
The infrastructure to support the assembly in the US does not exist for the phone. Think of all of the fasteners etc in a phone. These aren’t made here. So all of those parts would need to be imported.
Labor is also a huge issue. The min wage in China is 2590RMB or only $372/month. Even if you triple that number for Foxconn employees, you are still well below labor rates in the US (by a factor of 2 and that does not include fully loaded costs on US labor).
 
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Mojohanna32 said:
The infrastructure to support the assembly in the US does not exist for the phone. Think of all of the fasteners etc in a phone. These aren’t made here. So all of those parts would need to be imported.
Labor is also a huge issue. The min wage in China is 2590RMB or only $372/month. Even if you triple that number for Foxconn employees, you are still well below labor rates in the US (by a factor of 2 and that does not include fully loaded costs on US labor).
Click to expand...
Thank you!! For explaining reality!! As lovely as bringing consumer electronics manufacturing to the USA may sound it really isn’t a feasible reality.

Auto Manufacturing in the USA by foreign brands does not compare to consumer electronics manufacturing. The US has always maintained domestic auto manufacturing abilities. Also the labor cost differential of assembling a vehicle in Japan or Germany vs. The US is nowhere near as great of a cost difference.

Think about it this way. Toyota, Honda, VW, Mercedes etc can competitively assemble vehicles in the US because they would be paying their own Japanese or German workers roughly similar wages anyhow. Building in the US doesn’t cost much more or less (labor wise) and much of any cost differences can be made up through tax breaks, shipping savings etc.
 
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Little Endian said:
Thank you!! For explaining reality!! As lovely as bringing consumer electronics manufacturing to the USA may sound it really isn’t a feasible reality.

Auto Manufacturing in the USA by foreign brands does not compare to consumer electronics manufacturing. The US has always maintained domestic auto manufacturing abilities. Also the labor cost differential of assembling a vehicle in Japan or Germany vs. The US is nowhere near as great of a cost difference.

Think about it this way. Toyota, Honda, VW, Mercedes etc can competitively assemble vehicles in the US because they would be paying their own Japanese or German workers roughly similar wages anyhow. Building in the US doesn’t cost much more or less (labor wise) and much of any cost differences can be made up through tax breaks, shipping savings etc.
Click to expand...
I would think shipping would be the huge one

iP14 240g Average vehicle weight 4156lbs = ~7854.5 iP14 for the average vehicle
 
Good for Apple.

There are people who say iPhones can't be assembled in the US because the US lacks whatever. The fact is, India, Vietnam, and India also lacked those until an effort was made to build out that chain.

Not assembling (that's assembling, not manufacturing) in the US is purely a cost decision. Saying it's impossible to do is incorrect. Saying it's not cost-effective given what Apple wants its margins to be is more accurate.

I mean seriously. Do you really think Apple runs down to the local store to buy 5 million pentalobe screws at the last minute? No, they don't. Do you think they have an emergency order for 20,000 LED panels for their iPhone, or 60k extra proximity sensors because "they forgot?" No they don't.
 
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$500 million doesn’t sound like much. It’s like a small effort for local consumption. I doubt we will see India made phones in the US.
 
gleepskip said:
Diversification is great. It would be even better if Apple worked with another manufacturer other than Foxconn, which could become property of the CCP should China decide to annex Taiwan.
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If China “decides” to annex Taiwan, there will be a lot larger concerns than Foxconn.
 
vikingjunior said:
Why is it Toyota can assemble cars in America but Apple can’t assemble phones in America?

Amazing we a cheering another American company using foreign labor.

Spare me the iPhone would cost $2000 rhetoric.

The U.S. should start taxing the crap out of American companies that use over 50% of foreign labor.

Crazy folks just support rich people getting richer.
Click to expand...
Purism has an all-American made phone (except for… I think the modem) and it costs $2000, so I hardly think it is rhetoric.
 
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gleepskip said:
Diversification is great. It would be even better if Apple worked with another manufacturer other than Foxconn, which could become property of the CCP should China decide to annex Taiwan.
Click to expand...
They do have partners aside from Foxconn. There's Pegatron and Wistron.

www.macrumors.com

Apple Tasks Second Assembly Partner in India With iPhone 14 Production

Apple has added another assembly partner to its iPhone 14 production roster in India as it seeks to build out its manufacturing base outside of...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com

Other partners Apple's considering working with are Megatron and Starscream. :p
 
What I would do is stop discussing this because it might make China angry. Just do it in secret and make the big switch so China doesn't eve realize when production just suddenly drops.
 
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vikingjunior said:
Why is it Toyota can assemble cars in America but Apple can’t assemble phones in America?

Amazing we a cheering another American company using foreign labor.

Spare me the iPhone would cost $2000 rhetoric.

The U.S. should start taxing the crap out of American companies that use over 50% of foreign labor.

Crazy folks just support rich people getting richer.
Click to expand...
Mojohanna32 said:
The infrastructure to support the assembly in the US does not exist for the phone. Think of all of the fasteners etc in a phone. These aren’t made here. So all of those parts would need to be imported.
Labor is also a huge issue. The min wage in China is 2590RMB or only $372/month. Even if you triple that number for Foxconn employees, you are still well below labor rates in the US (by a factor of 2 and that does not include fully loaded costs on US labor).
Click to expand...

We only have to look at the failed Foxconn factory in Wisconsin to see how difficult it would be to bring iPhone manufacturing to the U.S.

www.theverge.com

A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin

How a Trump-endorsed plan overpromised and underdelivered
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

www.theregister.com

Foxconn could leave Wisconsinites on the hook for $300m

What's Mandarin for 'Where's my money?'
www.theregister.com www.theregister.com


To quote https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/21/fox...illion-wisconsin-project-touted-by-trump.html

"It was supposed to build cutting-edge flat-panel display screens for TVs and other devices and instantly establish Wisconsin as a destination for tech firms.

But industry executives, including some at Foxconn, were highly skeptical of the plan from the start, pointing out that none of the crucial suppliers needed for flat-panel display production were located anywhere near Wisconsin."
 
Mr. Dee said:
What I would do is stop discussing this because it might make .... angry. Just do it in secret and make the big switch so .... doesn't eve realize when production just suddenly drops.
Click to expand...
That is an interesting point. My guess is, Apple decided they couldn't do the secret path successfully and are doing the "we're just diversifying" in public path, as quickly as possible, and being as friendly as possible while their berries are still totally in the hands of the country where the entire Apple smartphone supply chain exists. (took the country name out as I was scolded about stuff in non political chats the other day)
 
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Mojohanna32 said:
The infrastructure to support the assembly in the US does not exist for the phone. Think of all of the fasteners etc in a phone. These aren’t made here. So all of those parts would need to be imported.
Labor is also a huge issue. The min wage in China is 2590RMB or only $372/month. Even if you triple that number for Foxconn employees, you are still well below labor rates in the US (by a factor of 2 and that does not include fully loaded costs on US labor).
Click to expand...
Most of the Toyota car parts to assemble cars in America are imported. Are you telling me tiny phone parts are more money to import than huge car parts? I'm not buying it, 50% of iPhone assembly could be done in America but it might eat into their enormous profits.

We have become way too much of an importing of foreign assemble and manufacturing country than an export, oil is a prime example of this and a contributing factor to inflation problems which are going to get worst if something doesn't turn around. Go look at food most of it is imported from other countries, and farmers in America are getting killed by regulations and fuel prices.

Also, you might want to check out the India government and its human rights issues. So I hope this isn't a moral attempt by Apple.
 
Diversification is great! Apple and other US companies must open factories in Central and South America, and Mexico if the problem is the worker's wages!
In this shi_tty situation with China, we have been waiting more than 2 months for iPhone Pro models in Europe :mad:
My iPhone Pro Max 256GB order date is 29.09.2022 :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
Shame on Apple!
They saw what happened during the Covid pandemic with the production in China and still doing nothing. 500 mil. investment is drop in the ocean.... :mad:
 
mitkomitashki said:
Diversification is great! Apple and other US companies must open factories in Central and South America, and Mexico if the problem is the worker's wages!
In this shi_tty situation with China, we have been waiting more than 2 months for iPhone Pro models in Europe :mad:
My iPhone Pro Max 256GB order date is 29.09.2022 :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
Shame on Apple!
They saw what happened during the Covid pandemic with the production in China and still doing nothing. 500 mil. investment is drop in the ocean.... :mad:
Click to expand...
And you’re still waiting? Damn…
 
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