Foxconn, the company that makes Apple’s iPhones, is looking to invest $1 billion to expand its factory in Tamil Nadu, according to a report by Reuters. The move is reportedly part of Apple’s moves to shift iPhone production away from China and hence reduce its dependence on the country.
The investment will take place over three years, which is within the time frame for the Indian government’s new production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Earlier reports had indicated that Foxconn was amongst the companies which had applied to be amongst the government’s five “foreign champions" for receiving the benefits from the scheme. Further, the Reuters report also states that Foxconn will add 6,000 jobs at its Sriperumbur plant in Tamil Nadu as part of this investment. This is the plant where the company manufactures the iPhone XR, Apple’s cheaper flagship-class iPhone. Foxconn also used to manufacture the older version of the iPhone SE and some others that have been discontinued by the company globally. It’s unclear whether the iPhone SE 2020, which was launched earlier this year, is also going to be made here. It’s worth noting that Foxconn Chairman, Liu Young-Way had alluded to this investment in the company’s annual general meeting last month. “We are fully pushing ahead with next steps there (in India), and maybe in a few months’ time we can reveal on our website the next steps and report back to everyone. We’ll have further investment there," Liu said at the time.
Foxconn also manufactures phones for Chinese Xiaomi, which leads the smartphone market in India right now. Those devices are made in the company’s Andhra Pradesh plant. The Reuters report indicates that the current investment is directed towards the iPhone plant. The Indian government’s PLI scheme has piqued the interest of smartphone makers in the country. The industry has said that the scheme will help ramp up manufacturing in India and plans to bring more component manufacturing into the country, taking a step forward from assembling which is mostly what it does at this point.