Analyst explains how Apple plans to unravel its supply chain

We imagined Apple’s operations teams were already actively pushing toward building more of the company’s products outside China, but a fresh set of Tweets from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo gives us additional ideas around the strategy.

Apple continues to diversify its manufacturing base

As spotted by 9to5Mac, Kuo notes how Apple is changing its supply chain management strategy to reduce its reliance on China. To achieve this, it is working with its existing supply chain partners to begin manufacture of its products in India and China. We recently learned how Vietnam is also becoming a new production hub as the company seeks to diversify its chain.

Kuo claims the main non-Chinese production site for MacBooks may turn out to be Thailand in future. At present these are all made in China.

The analyst confirms that India’s Tata Group may work with Pegatron and or Wistron to develop iPhone assembly in India.

This tallies with recent claims emanating from India that Tata has been speaking withthose Apple producers. We know that Apple broke iPhone, iPad and Mac sales records in India in 2021

Apple has already confirmed it has iPhones manufactured by Foxconn in India.

Apple also seems to be building new alliances

Kuo confirms that 80% of these are used to satisfy local demand. The analyst also thinks that getting a giant conglomerate such as Tata involved may help accelerate the speed at which Apple is able to diversify its production base.

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Apple's global supply chain management strategy continues to change in response to the de-globalization trend, mainly to reduce the assembly business in China. Here are the latest major survey updates.

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 11, 2022

(In related news, we recently learned Foxconn is also speaking with large Indian companies with potential partnerships in mind).

What’s most interesting is the insight into Apple’s time frame for supply chain transformation.

He argues that within the next three to five years, product for Apple’s US customers may be supplied from assembling sites outside China. Products for China will be made in China, he argues. This may be worth noting as Kuo has been watching Apple’s supply chain change attempts for some time.

Apple makes plans and thinks ahead

Apple has made a huge effort both to build its business and to diversify production into India since CEO Tim Cook visited the nation in 2016.

At that time, Cook promised Apple would be part of business in India for a thousand years.

Ever the operations chief, Cook certainly seems to have at least put the company in place to make the supply changes the unravelling politics of our time suggest it has to make. I guess that’s why he’s the CEO.

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