NEW DELHI/TAIPEI: Foxconn plans to invest up to US$1 billion to expand a factory in southern India where the Taiwanese contract manufacturer assembles Apple iPhones, two sources said.
The move, the scale of which has not previously been reported, is part of a quiet and gradual production shift by Apple away from China as it navigates disruptions from a trade war between Beijing and Washington and the coronavirus crisis.
"There's a strong request from Apple to its clients to move part of the iPhone production out of China," one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Foxconn said it does not comment on matters related to customers, while Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Foxconn's planned investment in the Sriperumbur plant, where Apple's iPhone XR is made some 50 km west of Chennai, will take place over the course of three years, the second source said.
Some of Apple's other iPhones models, made by Foxconn in China, will be made at the plant, said both sources, who declined to be identified as the talks are private and details have yet to be finalised.