Ever since the US-China trade war escalated last year, Apple has been trying to reduce its dependence on China for manufacturing its products. As a result, iPhone contract manufacturers have now shifted significant production to other countries like India.
Now, as per the latest report, Foxconn is shifting the assembly of some iPad and MacBooks to Vietnam from China after getting requests to do so from Apple. It is believed that this is because Apple wants to reduce the impact of the US-China trade war.
The United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump, has targeted Chinese companies by imposing several trade restrictions and banning some of the companies by categorizing them as a national security risk, without providing any proofs for the claim.
As a result, Taiwanese manufacturers started moving some of the production away from China to other countries like India, Vietnam, and Mexico as they anticipated similar actions for their production lines.
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With the latest development, Foxconn is now building assembly lines for iPad and MacBook devices at its Vietnam plan located in northeastern Bac Giang province. It is expected to be ready in the first half of 2021.
It is not clear how much of the production will shift from China but persons aware of the matter have confirmed to Reuters that the move was requested by Apple as the company wants to diversify production. This would mark the first time that the production of iPad moving to Vietnam as all the iPad models are currently being manufactured in China.
Recently, Foxconn announced a $270 million investment for setting up a new subsidiary named FuKang Technology Co Ltd, which could be to support the Vietnam expansion. It is also being reported that the Vietnam facility will also make TVs for Sony.
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