Apple supplier Luxshare Precision Industry Co has received approval to invest an additional US$330 million in a planned plant in Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang, as the US tech giant’s supply chain diversification away from China continues.
The additional amount raises the total plant investment to US$504 million, with the facility used to produce cables for smart devices, communications equipment, touch pens, smart positioning tags and smartwatches, Bac Giang authorities said in a statement dated Wednesday.
The new facility, under Luxshare’s arm in Vietnam, will be on a plot of over 70 acres and is expected to be completed in 12 to 24 months, the statement added.
China-based Luxshare, one of the primary suppliers of Apple’s AirPod product, started investing in Vietnam in 2019 and received approval for the first round of funding in its Bac Giang factory in August.
Apple’s Cook ‘optimistic’ on China after record iPhone revenues
Apple’s Cook ‘optimistic’ on China after record iPhone revenues
Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier of iPhones, invested US$250 million in two new projects in Vietnam earlier this year, where it plans to ramp production of components for electric vehicles (EVs), telecommunications and other electronics.
In August, the Indian state of Karnataka said Foxconn would invest $600 million in two projects to make casing components for iPhones and chip-making equipment, with Foxconn’s representative in India stating in a LinkedIn post last month that the company was “aiming for another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and business size in India”.
One of Foxconn’s existing facilities in India was used to produce units of the iPhone 15, launched in September, with made-in-India models of a cutting-edge Apple smartphone available at launch time for the first time ever.
However, although Apple and its producers have pursued diversification, the company has also reaffirmed its commitment to China, which remains its main manufacturing base.
The contract for the Vision Pro is said to be the first time that Apple has enlisted a mainland Chinese supplier to build a “first-generation” product.
Following his trip to the Luxshare facility, Cook met with top-ranking officials in China, including Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, who reportedly signalled China’s openness to foreign enterprises like Apple taking part in developing the country’s digital economy and hi-tech supply chain.
Cook’s trip also came in the same month that authorities launched a tax and land use investigation into facilities run by Foxconn in China, in what officials called normal law-enforcement activities.