Mint Quick Edit | Foxconn’s India plans should cheer us up
Apple doesn’t seem swayed by Trump’s advice to shift production to America if its largest contract manufacturer’s plans to invest in India are an indication. We do need more of the iPhone’s parts to be made locally though.
US President Donald Trump’s displeasure over Apple getting iPhones made in India had raised the question of whether the company would go ahead with its Indian expansion plans.
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If cues from the investment plans of one of its biggest contract manufacturers are reliable, then Apple hasn’t been swayed. Its key supplier Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, has announced that its Singapore-based subsidiary will purchase shares of Yuzhan Technology India, its local unit assembling iPhones, worth $1.5 billion.
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This infusion could fund capacity addition. The logic of moving assembly lines from China to India, especially for US-bound products, appears not to have been abandoned. Perhaps Trump can be mollified by Apple’s $500 billion investment plan for the US, aimed largely at AI projects that Big Tech businesses see as future money spinners. After all, while AI is cutting-edge technology, making handsets isn’t all that lucrative.
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But it’s still important for our manufacturing ambitions. For greater job creation, more of the iPhone’s parts need to originate in India. Exports to the US may also be easier that way if its trade policy delves into the details of a product’s origin.
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