A key Apple Inc supplier has begun making components for AirPods in India, marking a significant step in the US tech giant’s push to expand production in the country.
The Indian unit of Jabil Inc has begun shipping AirPods enclosures, or plastic bodies, to China and Vietnam, where the wireless earphones are assembled, people familiar with the matter said.
Apple is expanding production in India to reduce its reliance on China, where US trade restrictions and disruptions related to COVID-19 have made manufacturing more risky. Its India output has thus far been limited to the iPhone, making AirPods the second Apple product now partially manufactured in the country.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it a national priority to grow India’s manufacturing sector, providing financial incentives and government support for companies’ expansion projects. Apple has played a central role in that effort, with partners such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) producing more iPhones in the country for the latest generation than ever before.
US manufacturing services provider Jabil operates an 80,000m2 facility employing more than 2,500 workers in Pune in western India, its Web site says.
Jabil representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Apple declined to comment.
Apple is the world’s biggest maker of so-called true wireless stereo devices, a category that includes earphones and headphones.
It shipped 23.8 million units in the third quarter of last year, taking a 31 percent market share, research firm Canalys said.
While India is still some time away from getting Apple to fully manufacture AirPods locally, New Delhi has given initial clearances to more than a dozen of its Chinese suppliers to grow via joint ventures with Indian partners.
Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊精密), one of Apple’s Chinese suppliers which makes AirPods, is among the companies gaining that approval.
Apple’s India push comes as Modi’s government is drawing up plans to give financial incentives for local production of wireless earphones and smartwatches, one of the people said.
“Making enclosures is typically the first step for full-fledged production of AirPods,” Counterpoint vice president of research Neil Shah said. “Now that Apple has won initial approval for some suppliers including Luxshare, they are obviously building a supply chain for the end product.”
Apple has a long way to go to diversify out of China, which makes nearly 98 percent of iPhones. Still, the Cupertino, California-based company has made progress, after Hon Hai last year began making the iPhone 14 in India just weeks after the model’s global launch.
Apple exported more than US$2.5 billion of its devices from the South Asian nation from April to last month.
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