The gradual production shift from China has begun with Foxconn planning to invest up to $1 billion to expand a factory in Sriperumbur, near Chennai, where the Taiwanese contract manufacturer assembles Apple iPhones. Foxconn wants to navigate production disruptions from a trade war between Beijing and Washington and the coronavirus crisis. “There’s a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the iPhone production out of China,” one of the sources said.
Foxconn said it does not comment on matters related to customers, while Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Foxconn’s planned investment in the Sriperumbur plant, where Apple’s iPhone XR is made, will take place over the course of three years, another source said.
Some of Apple’s other iPhones models, made by Foxconn in China, will be made at the plant, said the sources. Taipei-headquartered Foxconn will add some 6,000 jobs at the Sriperumbur plant under the plan, one of the sources said. It also operates a separate plant in Andhra Pradesh, where it makes smartphones for China’s Xiaomi Corp, among others. Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way last month said it would ramp up its investment in India, without giving details.
