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Cloud over Apple's India plans as Chinese workers ‘called back home’ by iPhone maker Foxconn
300 Chinese workers have left already, mostly support staff from Taiwan remain in India, says report. Move began about two months ago, not expressly clear why
A Chinese company that makes Apple's iPhones in India has asked hundreds of its Chinese engineers and technicians to return home from the factories. This move by the firm, Foxconn Technology Group, is being seen as a significant blow to Apple’s manufacturing push in India.
More than 300 Chinese workers have left already, and now mostly support staff from Taiwan remain in India, the news agency Bloomberg reported. The move began about two months ago, but it's not yet clear why, the report said, citing sources who asked not to be named as the information is private.
But it suggests a link between this return-home move with the Chinese government urging its regulatory agencies and local administrations to curb technology transfers and equipment exports to India and Southeast Asia. This was seen as an attempt to prevent companies from shifting manufacturing elsewhere.
Impact on iPhone manufacturing in India
The Chinese workers' removal from India will slow down the training of local workforce as well as the tech transfer, likely raising production costs of the smartphones, the report said. However, another sources was quoted as saying that the worker extraction “won’t impact the quality of production in India, but it’s likely to affect efficiency on the assembly line”.
A representative for Apple declined to comment, while Foxconn didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment, said the report.
India’s government was informed by Foxconn about the move, according to Blomberg sources. The government has reportedly not seen a major impact on production yet.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has, in the recent past, praised Chinese assembly workers, and said that their skill was a key reason — and not just lower costs — for setting up the majority of Apple’s production in China.
What happens to iPhone 17 ramp-up?
While Foxconn still makes most iPhones in China, it has gradually built large assembly operations in India in recent years. It's to that end that experienced Chinese engineers were deployed at the Indian facilities. India, thus, began assembling iPhones at scale four years ago, and now accounts for a fifth of the global output.
The change comes at a bad time for Apple, the Bloomberg report analysed, citing its plans to ramp up production of the upcoming iPhone 17 and further plans to build another factory in India.
When US-China relations get frostier under Donald Trump, other countries, including India and Vietnam, have been trying to attract global tech companies to diversify their manufacturing locations.
