India begins exporting iPhone components to China, report claims
Crowds came to the opening
India has begun exporting some electronic components to China and Vietnam for the manufacture of Apple products, including Macs, AirPods, Apple Watch, Pencil, and iPhones, the Times of India claims today.
This reflects the huge shift in manufacturing roles as tensions between China and the US grow.
iPhone becomes India’s hot export
The news is buried in a report which explores the news that Apple has so far exported over $50b value in iPhones from India, all within the India government’s Production Linked Inventive (PLI) scheme.
This makes Apple the biggest beneficiary and biggest electronics exporter under the scheme. iPhone account for 75% of India’s total mobile phone exports, and mobile is the largest export item in the country.
Component supplies are coming
Tata Group and Foxconn between them now support five iPhone factories in India, with more coming online. The wider Apple component ecosystem now sees almost 45 component suppliers building product in India.
This will likely extend as India introduces a new PLI scheme next year, which is expected to place more focus on stimulating component manufacture there.
Apple-linked companies are expected to reap 60% of the benefits under that scheme. Suppliers will include Motherson, Tata, and Foxconn, who will make iPhone enclosures. (Tata acquired Chinese iPhone supplier Justech’s India unit in a $100 million deal three months ago).
Amperex Technology Limited will make Li-ion batteries, while Hindalco will make extruded aluminium components. It is thought Micron will also begin production in India soon.
The plan is to make it possible to build smartphones without dependence on component imports.
But the big shift is that Apple’s India-based component suppliers are now exporting some parts for use elsewhere in the global supply chain.
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