Foxconn manufactures more than 70% of Apple’s iPhones and now leaves a staffing shortage. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo
July 2 (UPI) — Apple’s largest iPhone producer has reportedly ordered hundreds of its India-based Chinese workers to return to their native China but for unspecified reasons.
Foxconn, which manufactures more than 70% of Apple’s iPhones, told more than 300 Chinese employees to end work at Foxconn’s factory in India and to return home, Bloomberg first reported Wednesday.
The loss accounts for a significant number of Foxconn’s iPhone facility staff in India with support remaining only from workers via Taiwan.
According to Bloomberg, why the order was given was unclear, but Chinese officials allegedly had been requesting that government regulators curb knowledge and technological resources away from India to preserve China’s weighty manufacturing abilities.
That report went on to cite an unspecific source saying Foxconn for nearly the last two months had been ordering Chinese workers back.
Apple’s action comes as its partners and Foxconn have boosted iPhone production in India as it seeks to scale back reliance on China.
Currently, India makes one-fifth of global iPhone output.
A $435 million investment by Foxconn for a semiconductor plant in India got the go-ahead in May by Indian government officials.
In May 2023, Foxconn officials broke ground on its new $500 million Indian manufacturing facility in Telangana, on 196 acres outside the city of Hyderabad in south-central India that was expected to create at least 25,000 jobs.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, meanwhile, has indicated that Apple will import more iPhones via India as one avenue to manage the ongoing uncertainties of U.S. tariff and other trade policies. In February, Apple announced its $500 billion four-year-investment to expand its U.S. facilities.
Apple had a goal to produce by late next year the large part of American-bound iPhones in India, but may see delays with Foxconn starting mass production of the iPhone17.
