In order to lessen its reliance on China for iPhone and MacBook product assembly, Apple’s worldwide supply chain management approach appears to be fast changing.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst with financial services company TF International Securities, the action is a part of a bigger trend toward deglobalization or lessening interconnectedness between corporate units located all over the world.
To lessen the possible effects of political concerns (such US-China tariffs), Kuo said in a tweet last month that from 25% to 30% of the world’s iPhone exports might be produced by assembly locations outside of China over the next three to five years, at least for the US market. In the long run, according to Kuo, China will probably serve as the primary assembly location for its own domestic Apple product sales, but not for supplies of goods to other countries.
According to Kuo, Thailand will likely replace China as the new location for manufacturing MacBooks.
In order to expand its iPhone assembly business, the Indian corporation Tata Group may eventually work with Pegatron or Wistron, according to Kuo. In India, two Apple contract manufacturers are Pegatron and Wistron.
According to Kuo, Foxconn currently produces more than 80% of its iPhones in India exclusively for domestic consumption.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Apple has been instructing its component suppliers to aggressively plan for building Apple goods in other regions of Asia, particularly India and Vietnam, in order to lessen its reliance on Taiwanese assemblers led by Technology Group.
