Foxconn Technology plant in India to assemble Apple AirPods in India

Foxconn Technology Group is working out modalities to set up a plant in India to assemble Apple AirPods, according to sources close to the discussions. Talks are on whether to set up the unit in Telangana or Karnataka. The investment is likely at around $200 million.

The Taiwanese company had a few days ago, during the visit of Foxconn global Chief Executive Officer Young Lui to India, signed MoUs to invest in these states for electronics manufacturing. A query to Foxconn India representative V Lee, however, did not elicit any response. Apple did not respond to a query, either.

Apple has an indirect connection with India as regards AirPods. One of its US-based suppliers, Jabil Inc, manufactures AirPod enclosures in Pune and ships them to factories in China and Vietnam.

The Cupertino-based company manufactures AirPods in China and Vietnam with a bevy of suppliers, the largest of those being Luxshare Precision Industry and Inventec.

Luxshare is not new in India. It had struck a deal with Tamil Nadu in 2020 to buy Motorola’s shuttered unit there for Rs 750 crore. However, it has not been earmarked to assemble AirPods in India.

For Apple, the AirPod will be the first product to have the “make in India” tag after its successful tryst with iPhones, which includes even the latest series 14.  The move is part of the strategy of Apple and one of its largest vendors to reduce dependence on China for manufacturing its range of products.

According to Canalys, Apple has been the biggest player in the global market for wearable stuff (which includes its watches) with a share of 22.6 per cent in 2022 and with shipments of 41.4 million units. This is followed by Xiaomi (17.1 per cent). The value of AirPods sold globally, according to some estimates, was over $12 billion in 2021 (it does not give a breakdown), miniscule compared to iPhone sales.

Apple had earlier made an abortive attempt to make iPads in India through its vendor Chinese major BYD but the plan failed after signals from the government that it might stymie the project because of geopolitical tensions between the two countries. However, BYD got up the iPad plant in Vietnam.

Sources said it was looking at the revamped production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT products, expected to be released soon, and might also assemble laptops. Currently most laptops are assembled in China but from 2023 some of them, according to reports, will be done in Vietnam by Foxconn.  

For Foxconn the $200 million investment in the new factory comes over and above the Rs 1,000 crore it has invested in its unit in Tamil Nadu to make iPhones under the PLI scheme.