Foxconn, Apple’s biggest and most important manufacturer of iPhones will open its manufacturing unit in the southern state of Telangana, news agency Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The company has been trying to shift production away from China after facing major supply-chain disruptions late last year due to the country’s zero-Covid policy.
The Foxconn manufacturing facility in Telangana is likely to generate one lakh jobs in a decade.
This development comes after a meeting between Young Liu, Chairman of Foxconn and K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana Chief Minister. Liu, who is on a tour of India, also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week. The Telangana government and iPhone’s contract manufacturer didn’t disclose the size of Foxconn’s investment or specify products that it would make in the state, the Bloomberg report added.
Last month, the company secured a new site in Vietnam, amid the Taiwanese giant’s attempt to shift production away from China.
To recall, the iPhone supplier mentioned it will be investing another $500 million in India, in a bid to expand its chipset-making business in the South Asian market. Taiwan-headquartered Foxconn, also the world’s largest contract electronics maker announced that its Singapore unit has acquired 4.08 million shares in Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development Private Limited for $500 million, a previous report by news agency Reuters said in December.
The key Apple partner plans to boost the workforce at its plant in southern India to 70,000 by adding 53,000 more workers over the next two years, the report added citing sources.
This comes amid Foxconn giving another special payout to employees in China to soothe unrest and restore production at the world’s biggest iPhone factory at Zhengzhou. Earlier last week, a Bloomberg report said that Foxconn is offering workers between October 1 and November 10 an extra 30 yuan ($4.20) an hour on top of their regular wages through December and January, as well as a returnee bonus of 500 yuan.