iPhone Assembler Pegatron Reportedly Readies $150m Investment in India

[MacRumors]

Apple assembly partner Pegatron's board of directors is said to have approved a proposal to spend $150 million to build a manufacturing plant in India.

The new facility is expected to begin production in the second half of next year or in early 2022, with more investments planned in the country over the next two years, reported India's Economic Times, citing unnamed executives.

Pegatron, Apple's second-largest iPhone assembler after Foxconn, registered its India subsidiary in July, and said that the global health crisis had made it hard for staff to visit India, which had resulted in delays. The facility would be the company's first to be established in the country, and would likely be involved in future iPhone assembly.

Pegatron has been cleared to take part in India's billion-dollar Production-Linked Incentive Scheme, which provides incentives on locally-produced smartphones. The Taipei-based assembler joins rival iPhone manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron, which are already signed up to the scheme.

Pegatron recently drew the ire of Apple after it was discovered that the iPhone supplier had been committing labor violations at a student workers' program at its Shanghai and Kunshan campuses in eastern China.

Apple put Pegatron on probation as a result of the violations, and while the supplier's current ‌iPhone‌ business is not expected to be affected, it could lose some iPhone 12 orders to rival Luxshare next year.

Article Link: iPhone Assembler Pegatron Reportedly Readies $150m Investment in India

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Such potential. 1.4b people. Smart developing country eventually to be another China for Apple. Great job. Keep moving ahead in India Tim!

 

[monster620ie]

Thanks for NOTHING apple. Abandon your bread and butter customer of USA who are out of jobs and need the investment of manufacturing.

 

[Bokito]

Thanks for NOTHING apple. Abandon your bread and butter customer of USA who are out of jobs and need the investment of manufacturing.

That won’t work. Manufacturing in wealthy countries isn’t competitive for quite a few reasons:

• People are more expansive (more expansive products)
• Scaling up is very hard
• There just aren’t enough people that want to work on such jobs*

* In Western Europe we import people from Eastern Europe for quite a few job categories because people in Western Europe are too lazy for them:

• Warehouse sorting
• Horticulture
• Meat industry
• Manufacturing

And many more. I think the US has the same problem finding people for those jobs.

 

[apparatchik]

That won’t work. Manufacturing in wealthy countries isn’t competitive for quite a few reasons:

• People are more expansive (more expansive products)
• Scaling up is very hard
• There just aren’t enough people that want to work on such jobs*

* In Western Europe we import people from Eastern Europe for quite a few job categories because people in Western Europe are too lazy for them:

• Warehouse sorting
• Horticulture
• Meat industry
• Manufacturing

And many more. I think the US has the same problem finding people for those jobs.

In the US the agricultural and construction sectors are filled with inmigrants, just to name a few. The manufacturing capacity, flexibility, input and chains are not there... its not just a matter of costs but actual feasibility.

Now, in the whole production chain, when you take into account the hardware design, such as Apple Silicon (not the manufacturing but the design), the software, the packaging design, in other words, the high paying jobs related to Apple devices, most of those are located in the US.

They outsource the cheap labor you wouldnt really want unless you’re a developing nation like India or Mexico.

Were I a US citizen I would be happy having all the high skilled jobs, time to retrain the workforce for those unemployed so they can move up in the production chain instead of expecting to be tightening screws for a living any more.

 

[Shanpdx]

iPhone SE and iPhone 11 was smash hit during the Diwali holidays in India.

Apple can lower the price if they are able to manufacture in India (avoiding 20% or so import duty).

I think more and more low and middle end products will be manufactured in India.

 

[rjp1]

Thanks for NOTHING apple. Abandon your bread and butter customer of USA who are out of jobs and need the investment of manufacturing.

It is getting harder to support them. I love Apple products, but hate a lot of their actions.

Macrumors covers the smallest things Apple does, but didn’t report on Apple lobbying against a forced labor law:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/20/apple-uighur/

 

[DeepIn2U]

That won’t work. Manufacturing in wealthy countries isn’t competitive for quite a few reasons:

• People are more expEnsive (more expEnsive products)
• Scaling up is very hard
• There just aren’t enough people that want to work on such jobs*

* In Western Europe we import people from Eastern Europe for quite a few job categories because people in Western Europe are too lazy for them:

• Warehouse sorting
• Horticulture
• Meat industry
• Manufacturing

And many more. I think the US has the same problem finding people for those jobs.

Expensive ... there fixed it for you


Horticulture : lol everytime I hear this word I think back to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. By definition many of your typical horticulturalist is lazy I agree with your points.

We grow copious amounts of ganja here, and you're carrying a wasted girl and a bag of fertilizer. You don't look like your average horti-f***ing-culturalist.

 

[velocityg4]

That won’t work. Manufacturing in wealthy countries isn’t competitive for quite a few reasons:

• People are more expansive (more expansive products)
• Scaling up is very hard
• There just aren’t enough people that want to work on such jobs*

* In Western Europe we import people from Eastern Europe for quite a few job categories because people in Western Europe are too lazy for them:

• Warehouse sorting
• Horticulture
• Meat industry
• Manufacturing

And many more. I think the US has the same problem finding people for those jobs.

There are just better options for the required skill level and pay grade for those positions. They'd have no difficulty finding local workers if they paid enough to entice local labor. Bringing in foreign workers helps them keep wages down for those positions. Which effects the whole labor market. Keeping other wages down. As there is less competition among employers.

Conversely that also keeps costs down. Keeping the industry local. It also keeps the final prices down.

 

[flimpy]

They outsource the cheap labor you wouldnt really want unless you’re a developing nation like India or Mexico.

Making N95 masks was a cheap labor too, also outsourced (to China). How well did it work for the USA this year?

 

[anthogag]

India has an influential rising-star tech sector. They could easily make iPhones. India is a democracy. China's communist government will always undermine Western democracy.

 

[apparatchik]

Making N95 masks was a cheap labor too, also outsourced (to China). How well did it work for the USA this year?

Not us bad as you would think, sure, there were shortages the first few months, not only in the US but in the whole world, but China was able to ramp up production of these masks faster than any other country could have because flexibility, capacity and because the lockdowns were over in China rather quickly, so they were pumping them as fast as they could make them because capitalism.

Now, of course there are strategic sectors you should keep within borders, your point is valid, but you would have to subsidized them of course. As long as the design is yours, going back to the tech sector, the manufacturing is not only not as strategic but also razor thin profitable. Just look at the reports of how little Foxconn et al make compared to Apple.

 

[m4mario]

Thanks for NOTHING apple. Abandon your bread and butter customer of USA who are out of jobs and need the investment of manufacturing.

Are you qualified or willing to do a manufacturing job the way the Chinese do it? Will you want your kids to do work in an assembly line? Do you know of any American who is capable of competing with Asians in speed and efficiency in manufacturing? Don't you get it? There are not enough Americans who are willing to work in an assembly line. If you manufacture in the US, then we will have to get give out H1B visas to accommodate for the jobs.

 

[cyberslammer]

Not us bad as you would think, sure, there were shortages the first few months, not only in the US but in the whole world, but China was able to ramp up production of these masks faster than any other country could have because flexibility, capacity and because the lockdowns were over in China rather quickly, so they were pumping them as fast as they could make them because capitalism.

Now, of course there are strategic sectors you should keep within borders, your point is valid, but you would have to subsidized them of course. As long as the design is yours, going back to the tech sector, the manufacturing is not only not as strategic but also razor thin profitable. Just look at the reports of how little Foxconn et al make compared to Apple.

Yet everyone still wears those flimsy blue masks below their noses thinking it's got magical powers to protect you when the boxes CLEARLY say does not protect you from COVID.

 

[Bokito]

Conversely that also keeps costs down. Keeping the industry local. It also keeps the final prices down.

The cost of transport is peanuts compared to the higher wages and other challenges in the western world. Flying 10K iPhones from China to the USA may cost 4 - 5 dollars for each iPhone, but doing all the assembly in the US would increase the cost by maybe 20 - 50 dollars. Besides that there are a lot of other challenges to overcome as noted in my earlier post.

The numbers are made up, but for sure the costs are lower. Certainly for low cost products (hey iPhone SE 2020) this matters a lot. For a 5K Mac Pro this doesn’t matter at all.

 

[vegetassj4]

Their subsidiary in Pakistan is called Starstream.

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

Pegatron not repairing Macs in Europe has had a massive hit on workaround times. In the UK, if a mac goes 'back to depot' they usually get shipped to Pegatron in Czech Republic. Apple Stores shut, repair centres in the UK doing minimal service, then this. We've had macs away from repair (most batteries) with an estimated repair time of 4-6 weeks.

 

[President-Elect Beachball]

Are you qualified or willing to do a manufacturing job the way the Chinese do it? Will you want your kids to do work in an assembly line? Do you know of any American who is capable of competing with Asians in speed and efficiency in manufacturing? Don't you get it? There are not enough Americans who are willing to work in an assembly line. If you manufacture in the US, then we will have to get give out H1B visas to accommodate for the jobs.

I just want the products I need to use on a daily basis to be guaranteed slave-labor-free.

What a concept, I know.

 

[m4mario]

I just want the products I need to use on a daily basis to be guaranteed slave-labor-free.

What a concept, I know.

Well Apple guarantees that.

Contrary to what is being reported here, Apple suppliers have some the best working standards. If you care for workers, your choice is iPhone or no phone. There is nothing better out there for these workers.

 

[President-Elect Beachball]

Well Apple guarantees that.

Contrary to what is being reported here, Apple suppliers have some the best working standards. If you care for workers, your choice is iPhone or no phone. There is nothing better out there for these workers.

Well, it must be nice being this innocent.

So why is Apple lobbying to water down legislation that would punish corps that have slave labor in their supply chains?

Apple, as most any corp, doesn't care about doing good. What they care about is the public perception that they're doing good.

In order to operate in China Apple must comply with legislation enacted by the Communist Party, particularly data sharing with authorities. Most legislation in China serves the purpose of stifling dissent and guaranteeing that dissidents will be dealt with with zero access to due process.

Apple threw Hong Kong dissidents under the bus when requested by local authorities. And they will do it again. Every. Single. Time. They are already on record to that effect.

Now, do you believe that Apple is willing to blow the trumpet if they find out that the Chinese Communist Party is pumping Uyghur slave labor into the Chinese electronics supply chains? I don't think so.

Who do you think controls Apple after all? Western consumers and their feel-good human rights sensitivities? Or the CCP, who has an iron grip on most of their supply chain and their largest consumer market?