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Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
The Trump effect: Apple shifts operations from China to India amidst ongoing tariffs, trade war
Agencies New York The heat from US President Donald Trump's trade war against China may have turned down a notch after the two countries reached a temporary truce in mid-May, but Trump's tariff policy has created a climate of uncertainty among American companies with operations in China. Tech companies reliant on Chinese components, technology, and skills are particularly hard hit, and under pressure to move their operations away from China, preferably to the US. Even the iconic Apple iPhone brand has not escaped unscathed. Caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war and in a bid to avoid falling foul of the resulting economic fallout of the tensions between Washington and Beijing,Apple is gradually moving its iPhone production from China to India. Trump has temporarily pulled back on his 145 percent tariff hike against China, which in turn suspended its retaliatory tariffs against the US of up to 125 iPhones are, for now, exempt from US tariffs, the components used for their production are not, and companies like Apple find themselves in the eye of Trump's anti-China tsunami. Despite a five percent growth in net profit and revenue for its fiscal second quarter,Apple predicts losses in the coming fiscal months as a result of the trade CEO Tim Cook, fearful that the trade and tariff situation is unlikely to change, is moving swiftly to protect his company by relocating some of its operations from China to India. Beijing's loss is becoming New Delhi's gain, with the company indicating that the majority of iPhones in the US market would soon be imported from India, where the company has had a decades-long presence. In 2016,Cook visited the country and announced the establishment of an iOS developers lab in Bengaluru, India's Silicon Valley. In 2022, Apple's investment in India grew further when the company decided to make its iPhone 14 models in that country. Apple's first stores in India opened in 2023. According to reports, India already makes one in five iPhones used worldwide, assembling $22 billion worth of iPhones between March 2024 and March 2025, and increasing its production by 60 percent as it shifts production away from China. Further boosting Apple's presence in India is the recent decision by the main manufacturer of its iPhones, the Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, to invest $1.5 billion into its India unit. Hon Hai, which has been building new plants and adding production capacity in southern India, is also increasing its investments in the US to mitigate the geopolitical headwinds arising from further tariffs. Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has welcomed the investment by Apple and other original equipment manufacturers (OEM), saying: 'Apple has decided to source and produce all its mobile phones in India in the years to come…you are choosing affordability, you are choosing reliability, you are choosing originality.' Minister of State for Telecommunication Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani noted India's remarkable transformation from an importer of mobile phones in 2014 to a leading producer and exporter. Meanwhile, as insurance against the geopolitical impact of the Trade War, Apple, which does not produce smartphones in the US, has pledged to spend $500 billion in America over the next four years and employ more workers domestically. While Apple and other tech companies operating from China are mulling over their options amidst Trump's see-saw trade policies,the iPhone manufacturer's increased investment in India is a welcome boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' programme. This initiative seeks to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture, and assemble products in India.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
Apple's Hotel California trap: It can check out but not leave China
During US President Donald Trump's first term, he famously toured a Texas factory and claimed credit for bringing Apple production back to America. Except the plant had been running long before he took office. And it was an 'unmitigated fiasco.' Workers in China had to be flown in to help fix the mounting manufacturing problems encountered in the US heartland. This telling anecdote from Apple in China, a gripping read by former Financial Times journalist Patrick McGee, shows how the tech giant became beholden to America's biggest geopolitical adversary. Up until this point, the book recounts how Apple flew engineers from California to China to train and collaborate with local workers to manufacture its most iconic products. Now, it seems, the tables have irreversibly turned. Also Read: Ajit Ranade: The success of 'Made in China 2025' alarmed the West McGee argues that the technology transfer facilitated by Apple to China, via small decisions compounding over decades, ultimately made it the biggest corporate investor in 'Made in China 2025,' President Xi Jinping's bold plan to end reliance on Western technology. 'Here was America's most famous tech giant volunteering to play the role of Prometheus, handing the Chinese the gift of fire," McGee writes. Yet, the overarching argument of the book—that the US company made China into the tech behemoth it is today—begs the question of why Apple didn't make the same kind of investments in the US. And amid Trump's second term, when he has repeatedly threatened tariffs on the company if it doesn't onshore manufacturing, this query has new urgency. But the reality is that Trump's nagging will never be able to re-create the ecosystem that local governments in China, with the help of Taiwanese suppliers such as Hon Hai (better known as Foxconn) created to lure Apple. A simplistic answer from a scholar early in the book is that China was a 'low wages, low welfare and low human rights" nation. Suppliers could exploit a massive underclass of migrant workers and local authorities could quickly suppress any labour unrest or media reports of it. But if there's a lesson for Trump or American consumers here, it is that electronics manufacturing jobs can come at a high cost for workers. It's unlikely that these are the kinds of positions Trump's base is hoping for, in an area where automation would be welcome. Also Read: Rahul Jacob: Manufacturing is crying out for a reality check China is hardly a low-wage manufacturer anymore. Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged this before, saying that his company makes products in the country not because of labour costs, but because of its legions of skilled workers. McGee argues that this upskilling is now being used to fuel innovation at homegrown tech giants such as Huawei—and a direct result of Apple's investments. While the iPhone maker was chasing short-term profits, savvy suppliers in Asia were playing the long game. We have all heard about the legendary union between founder Steve Jobs and designer Jony Ive that made the iPhone a unique product. But the partnership that made it a revolutionary one, owned by more than a billion people, was between Cook and 'Uncle Terry,' McGee argues. Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn, was the hyper-efficient manufacturing genius who brought the iPhone to the masses. Gou was described as obsessed with cutting costs—even if that meant diluting hand soap in factories with increasing amounts of water. But Gou recognized the value of working with Apple wasn't just profits: It was the tacit knowledge that he and his team would receive from the engineers shipped over from California to help set up and run the factories. This learning was invaluable, Gou understood, and made even losing money to get Apple orders worth it. Also Read: Dave Lee: Apple must make peace with developers for AI success An ecosystem for high-tech manufacturing took China decades to build and its path was marked not just by local factories producing Apple's iconic goods, but by the creation of sub-suppliers nearby and an army of skilled engineers. It will be nearly impossible for Trump to try to re-create this during his four-year term. The US could start by focusing investments in vocational education and engineering, but policymakers should recognize that catching up now requires a strategic long game. And all the years it took to develop a reliance on China means it's not Trump's tariff threats that pose the biggest existential threat to Apple. It's Beijing. Uncoupling too fast risks angering local authorities, but not doing so quickly enough makes it even harder for it to inevitably be done. As this book convincingly argues, Apple can inch towards India and Vietnam, but it can't leave China anytime soon. ©Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia tech.
India Gazette
30-05-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Foxconn projected sales to hit NTD 7 Trillion in 2025
ANI 30 May 2025, 11:42 GMT+10 New Delhi [India], May 30 (ANI): Taiwan's Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry and the world's largest electronics manufacturer, forecast revenues to reach NTD 7 trillion (approximately USD 234.5 billion), marking a nearly 3 per cent increase compared to last year. Last year, Foxconn registered a total of sales of NTD 6.8 group expects solid growth this year despite ongoing uncertainties, including U.S. tariffs, currency fluctuations, and a shifting global political and economic landscape, said Young Liu, Hon Hai Chairman, while addressing the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), according to Focus said he was confident that the annual revenue of the company would surpass NTD 7 trillion, with a strong chance of hitting a new forward, the company sees information and communications technology (ICT), artificial intelligence (AI), and electric vehicles (EVs) as the three main focuses of the company. According to the company's chairman, Foxconn has developed nine prototypes for EVs and is expanding global partnerships through its contract design and manufacturing service (CDMS) model. Young Liu also highlighted at the AGM that the next board of directors will separate the roles of chairman and CEO. Over the next three years, the company plans to move from a rotating CEO system to appointing a permanent chief Thursday's shareholders meeting, Hon Hai completed the re-election of its board. Among those newly elected were Liu and Chang Ching-ray, a consultant at the Hon Hai Research Institute and honorary professor at National Taiwan Chiang Shang-yi, chief strategy officer at Hon Hai and chairman of its affiliate ShunSin Technology Holdings, joined the board for the first time. Christina Liu, a current board member and managing director at the Hong Kong-based Bellwether International Group, secured company noted that five out of the nine board members are independent AGM, Hon Hai shareholders approved the board's recommendation to pay a cash dividend of NTD 5.80 per share, the highest since the company's 1991 initial public offering. This marks the sixth consecutive year the payout ratio has exceeded 50 per cent. (ANI)
29-05-2025
- Automotive
Hon Hai to Reveal 2nd Japanese Automaker Partner
News from Japan May 29, 2025 20:06 (JST) Taipei, May 29 (Jiji Press)--Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. will shortly announce its second Japanese partner to which it will supply electric vehicles, its chairman, Young Liu, said at a shareholders meeting on Thursday. Hon Hai's first such partner is Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which plans to sell EVs supplied by Hon Hai in Australia and elsewhere from the second half of 2026. Liu also said that his company is in talks with two more Japanese automakers, but did not give further details. He has earlier said that Hon Hai has been in touch with Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Foxconn's India plans should cheer us up
US President Donald Trump's displeasure over Apple getting iPhones made in India had raised the question of whether the company would go ahead with its Indian expansion plans. Also Read: Apple intelligence: It's time to step up and speak out If cues from the investment plans of one of its biggest contract manufacturers are reliable, then Apple hasn't been swayed. Its key supplier Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, has announced that its Singapore-based subsidiary will purchase shares of Yuzhan Technology India, its local unit assembling iPhones, worth $1.5 billion. Also Read: Mint Quick Edit | Apple's airlift: A good sign for India? This infusion could fund capacity addition. The logic of moving assembly lines from China to India, especially for US-bound products, appears not to have been abandoned. Perhaps Trump can be mollified by Apple's $500 billion investment plan for the US, aimed largely at AI projects that Big Tech businesses see as future money spinners. After all, while AI is cutting-edge technology, making handsets isn't all that lucrative. Also Read: The iPhone needs a new strategy to salvage Apple Intelligence But it's still important for our manufacturing ambitions. For greater job creation, more of the iPhone's parts need to originate in India. Exports to the US may also be easier that way if its trade policy delves into the details of a product's origin.
