Apple Inc added three Taiwanese manufacturers to its supplier list in the past fiscal year, while many others, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) and contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), remained on the list.
On the list released for the year ending September last year, metal powder injection molding device maker Taiwan Powder Technologies Co (台耀科技), membrane touch switch supplier Ko Ja (Cayman) Co (科嘉) and LCD surface-mount technology production solutions provider Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology Corp (台灣表面黏著科技) were added.
As for Hon Hai, about 40 percent of its sales come from Apple. The manufacturer has production sites in China’s Guangdong, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces, Brazil’s Amasonas state and Sao Paulo, India’s Tamil Nadu state, the US states of California and Texas, and Vietnam’s Bac Giang Province on the Apple supplier list.
Photo: Reuters
Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), produces iPhones at its Zhengzhou complex in Henan, while its production compound in Shenzhen is involved in development and new product introduction for iPhones, analysts said.
ASE’s production sites in Kaohsiung, Taoyuan and Nantou County, China’s Jiangsu and Shanghai, Japan’s Yamagata Prefecture, South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province, Singapore and Vietnam’s Haiphong are on the Apple supplier list. ASE is the world’s largest IC packaging and testing provider.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is believed to serve as the sole supplier of chips for iPhone production, as Apple is one of its largest clients.
Other Taiwanese manufacturers on the list included smartphone camera lens suppliers Largan Precision Co (大立光) and Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光), power management solution provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子), metal casing supplier Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), Hon Hai’s resistor subsidiary Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴精密), and contract notebook computer makers Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) and Inventec Corp (英業達).
Smaller Taiwanese iPhone assemblers Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Wistron Corp (緯創), the world’s third-largest multilayer ceramic capacitor maker, Yageo Corp (國巨), DRAM chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), printed circuit board supplier Compeq Manufacturing Co (華通電腦) and Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興電子), one of Taiwan’s major suppliers of Ajinomoto build-up film, are also on the list.
Separately, iPhone exports from India exceeded US$1 billion in the five months since April, people familiar with the matter said, signaling that the South Asian nation is making progress with its bid to become a force in electronics manufacturing.
At the current rate, outbound shipments of India-made iPhones, mainly to Europe and the Middle East, are set to reach US$2.5 billion in the 12 months through March next year, the people said, asking not to be named as the data are not public.
That is almost double the US$1.3 billion worth of iPhones India exported in the year through March this year, the people said.
Apple’s key Taiwanese contract manufacturers Hon Hai, Wistron and Pegatron make iPhones at plants in Southern India. All three won manufacturing incentives under a federal government plan.
However, India is still far behind China. About 3 million iPhones were made in India last year, compared with 230 million in China, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates showed.
The devices exported from India from April to August comprise iPhone 11, 12 and 13 models, and exports of the new iPhone 14 line are to begin soon, the people said.
Beyond smartphones, India is drawing up plans to boost financial incentives for tablet and laptop makers, hoping to woo Apple to make MacBooks and iPads locally, and attract other brands.
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