Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest custom electronics manufacturer, announced on Thursday that its Singapore unit has acquired 4.08 million shares of Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development Private Limited for US$500 million (about Rs.4,100 billion).
The announcement of a $500 million injection into the Indian entity comes after Reuters reported it last month Apple Offerer Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce iPhone Factory in India over two years, with two knowledgeable government officials pointing to production adjustment amid disruption in China.
Foxconn plans to increase the workforce at its southern India plant to 70,000 by adding 53,000 more workers over the next two years, sources said.
According to a government source, the company told Tamil Nadu officials its plans to accelerate its hiring efforts at the Indian plant due to disruptions in China, while a person in Taiwan with knowledge of the matter said Foxconn is expanding its operations in India to grow its Capacity for base models and to meet Indian demand.
Foxconn, officially called Hon Hai Precision Industry, opened the plant in India in 2019 and has ramped up production. It started production of the iPhone 14 this year.
Foxconn, which made headlines in recent weeks for imposing strict COVID-19 restrictions at its Zhengzhou plant in China that sparked unrest among workers, said Thursday the plant had its “closed-loop” Management restrictions lifted.
Last month, Apple’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron allegedly started assembling the new iPhone 14 in India. Both Foxconn and Pegatron produce the latest from Apple iPhone 14 Handset in India, the former started assembling the smartphone in September.
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple has bet heavily on India since it began assembling iPhones in the country in 2017 through Wistron and later Foxconn, in line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing.
Analysts at JPMorgan estimate that Apple could make one in four iPhones in India by 2025 as the tech giant shifts some manufacturing out of China amid rising geopolitical tensions and strict COVID-19 lockdowns in the country.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
