Foxconn plans $700 million iPhone factory in India

Business news | March 3, 2023

By Peter Clarke

Apple supplier Foxconn plans to spend U$700 million building a factory in Bengaluru, India that could create 100,000 jobs, according to Bloomberg report.

The move would appear part of an effort by Apple to reduce its dependence on Chinese manufacturing at a time of increased geopolitical tension. Hon Hai Precision Industries, which trades under the Foxconn brand, is expected to build the factory on a 300-acre site near Bengaluru airport in the southern state of Karnataka.

The factory would make iPhones parts, could also assemble iPhones and could make components for Foxconn’s electric vehicle business, the report said. It appears set to be about half the size of Foxconn’s giant iPhone assembly factory in Zhengzhou, China. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant employs around 200,000 people and is known as iPhone City.

However, problems during Covid lockdowns in 2022 did lead an exodus of staff from that plant and loss of production for Apple (see Foxconn shakes off factory disruption as January sales jump). In addition, geopolitical climate is pressuring Apple to reduce its engagement with Chinese companies.

The Indian site is expected to create 100,000 jobs, Bloomberg said, referencing unnamed sources, likely to be government officials, although the plans are still subject to change as Foxconn finalizes investment details. It remains unclear whether this would represent new capacity or space for production that Foxconn would shift from other locations. No timeline was given for the construction of the factory.

The opening up of Apple’s supply chain in India will also provide increased impetus to a government initiative to attract semiconductor manufacturers to open up India. Foxconn is in a joint venture with Vedanta Group that has agreed to set up a wafer fab, a semiconductor assembly and test unit, and display factory all in the Indian state of Gujurat.