Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is within weeks of starting trial production of the latest iPhones in India as Apple Inc seeks to revive its fortunes in the country, people familiar with the matter said.
The trial run of the iPhone X range of devices would come before Foxconn starts full-scale assembly at its factory outside the southern Indian city of Chennai, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are private.
Wistron Corp (緯創) already produces older models, such as the iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7, at a plant in Bengaluru, India.
Photo: Bloomberg
Apple has become a minor player in India with about 1 percent of the country’s shipments, as its higher prices deter customers in the world’s fastest-growing major market.
Production in India would help the Cupertino, California-based company avoid import duties of 20 percent and also meet a 30 percent local sourcing rule that would allow it to open its own stores in the country.
“Seen from Cupertino. the India market looks minuscule, so Apple’s strategy has been myopic,” Counterpoint Research director of research Neil Shah said. “They haven’t capitalized on the ground potential — India will cross a half-billion smartphone users this year.”
As Apple’s market share declines in China and a US-China trade dispute heats up, the US company needs to diversify into India.
“Apple no longer wants to keep all its eggs in one basket,” Shah said.
Indians last year bought more than 140 million smartphones, with just 1.7 million sold by Apple, as consumers favored cheaper models from China.
On Xiaomi Corp’s (小米) Indian Web site, the Redmi Note 7 has a price of 9,999 rupees (US$145), one-10th the price of Apple’s iPhone Xs in the country.
In the first two months of this year, Apple shipped about 150,000 devices in India and is likely to see an about 50 percent drop in the quarter ended last month from the year earlier, Shah said.
A spokeswoman for Apple did not respond to e-mailed questions about India production.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Hon Hai’s Indian assembly line would serve local and export markets by the time Apple announces its next iPhone models in September, the sources said.
The Taiwanese contract manufacturer, the biggest maker of iPhones, would initially invest about US$300 million to set up for Apple, with investments to ramp up as capacity expands, they said.
Foxconn has two assembly sites in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where it makes devices for Xiaomi and Nokia Corp.
Locating more production in India would also help diversify Apple and Foxconn’s manufacturing footprint away from China amid the ongoing trade tensions with the US.
In December last year, the Hindu newspaper reported that Foxconn would make iPhones at the Chennai plant this year, citing an announcement at a Cabinet meeting led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS