Foxconn bought a huge plot of land in the suburbs of Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley. The announcement comes from the same Taiwanese tech giant, Apple’s main supplier, which seeks to diversify production outside of China. The acquisition of 1.2 million square meters a Devanahalli,near the airport of Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka considered the Indian Silicon Valley, was announced in a press release on the London Stock Exchange.
Foxconn subsidiary Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development bought the site for 3 billion rupees (33.55 million euros). The group indicated in the same document that another Foxconn unit is in the process of acquiring the rights to use a land of 480,000 square meters in Vietnam’s Nghe An province. Going by the official name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and the leading iPhone assembler. The giant has been producing Apple devices in India since 2019, in a factory located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
An alternative to China
Both companies are looking to diversify their business outside of China – where most of their production is located – due to the numerous anti-Covid lockdowns of last year and continue tensioni diplomatich,and with the United States which inevitably led to a slowdown in production.
Karnataka state chief minister Basavaraj S. Bommai announced in March that Apple would “soon” produce iPhones at a new factory in the state, creating “about 100,000 jobs.” That same month, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources, that Foxconn was planning to invest $700 million in a new factory in Karnataka. According to a statement from the group in March, Young Liu, president of Foxconn, had visited the state to “deepen partnerships and seek cooperation in new areas such as semiconductor and electric vehicle development.” He had also met the prime minister Narendra Modi,which said the “discussions” had “covered various topics aimed at boosting India’s innovation and technology ecosystem.”
Two other Taiwanese groups, Wistron and Pegatron, manufacture and assemble devices of the American brand in India. The world’s largest company by market value is also expanding its manufacturing footprint in India. Last September, Apple said it would produce its latest iPhone 14 in India, just weeks after the flagship model launched.
Apple Stores grow
Apple has made a significant step forward in India by opening its first two retail stores in the world’s most populous country last month. CEO Tim Cook personally inaugurated the Bombay store and welcomed the first customers to the applause of the staff. Located in an elegant mall in India’s financial capital, hundreds of consumers of the brand had lined up, some all night long, in front of the brand new “Apple Store”. In the same week, the second store was opened in New Delhi, the capital of India.
The Californian company is betting a lot on this country of 1.4 billion inhabitants, which has the second number of smartphone users in the world after China. The world’s largest company, by market value, is also expanding its manufacturing presence in India as it seeks to diversify its supply chain away from its heavy dependence on China. According to Bloomberg, India accounted for the 7% of iPhone production of Apple last year, behind the United States, China, Japan and other countries. Apple’s expansion of manufacturing in India is a boost to Modi’s “Make in India” strategy, which has enticed foreign firms to manufacture products in the South Asian country.