Over the next three years, Finland’s Salcomp, a supplier to Apple, plans to double its workforce in India to 25,000.
Apple Shifting Production Away From China
The move is to target the annual revenue in the country of at least $2 billion to $3 billion by 2025, as informed by a top company executive on Monday.
These developments come when Apple is planning to shift its production away from China after its strict COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions, and with rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The managing director, Salcomp Manufacturing India, Sasikumar Gendham said, “The whole supply chain is now kind of looking at an alternative. And India is poised to be one of the best alternatives,” during an industry event.
He said, “Everyone knows that the whole world has been depending on this one nation (China) over the last few decades and it’s time to really diversify and decluster,”.
Bet Big On India
It appears that the Cupertino, California-based Apple has bet big on India since it began iPhone assembly in the country in 2017 via Wistron and later Foxconn, in line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing.
According to Gendham, Salcomp will have a “significant role” in Apple’s supply chain.
Salcomp employs about 12,000 at its Chennai plant presently, where it makes mostly chargers, but also other smartphone parts.
During 2020, it started the Chennai operation having reached an agreement a year earlier to take over the facility formerly owned by Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia.
Further, Gendham expects the India business to generate at least $2 billion-$3 billion in revenue by 2025, from less than 40 billion rupees ($484 million) now.
In the meantime, Foxconn is also planning to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in India over two years, as per the media report last year.
Last year, J.P.Morgan analysts estimated that a quarter of all Apple products would be made outside China by 2025, from 5% currently.
Moving ahead, Apple wants India to account for up to 25% of its production from about 5%-7% now, said the country’s trade minister in January.
Besides this, Salcomp said that it is setting up a housing complex with entertainment and education facilities for about 15,000 people.
