Apple has recently advised one of its known Chinese suppliers to boost its investment. The Cupertino giant has apparently asked Luxshare-ICT, an assembler of its AirPods, to invest in metal cases for its iPhones and MacBooks. This move is aimed to create another alternative against its longtime existing Taiwanese supplier, Foxconn.
Luxshare-ICT is a Chinese technology based company, that in recent times has seen fast growth thanks to its aggressive strategies. The firm is currently in talks with Catcher Technology, which is the second largest supplier of metal enclosures in the world. This move will likely help it broaden its horizons with the orders it can undertake, like the metallic iPhone and MacBook casings.
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If the agreement goes through, Luxshare will be able to produce high-quality cover for smartphones and also gain access to knowledge of assembling iPhones. This would essentially bring it close to Foxconn and make it a direct competitor in the same field. As of right now, Foxconn is one of the largest suppliers within the electronics products supply chain. Thus, Luxshare’s added investment can enable to gain some footings in Apple’s product lineup assembly.
Foxconn is also Apple’s largest supplier and has worked with the company ever since the first iPhone launched back in 2007, accounting for more than 50 percent of all iPhone production since. However, it seems that the American company now wishes to reduce its reliance on the supplier and look into other producers as well. According to a source, “Apple is encouraging Luxshare to invest. The reason is to hire a competitive Chinese assembler to counterbalance the Taiwanese assemblers. The more Apple has qualified suppliers, the more bargaining power it will have.” Taiwanese companies have dominated the electronic contract manufacturing sector for decades.”
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