BENGALURU (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s iPhones will soon be assembled at another site in the southern Indian state of Karnataka and 300 acres have been aside to set up a factory, the state government said on Friday.
Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Apple partner Foxconn Technology Group planned to invest about $700 million in the Karnataka site to ramp up local production.
The state’s investment promotion division said in a tweet that the move would generate 100,000 employment in the next 10 years.
Apple and Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the Bloomberg report.
Currently, iPhones are assembled in India by at least three of Apple’s global suppliers – Foxconn and Pegatron in Tamil Nadu, and Wistron in Karnataka.
Apple has been shifting production away from China after the country’s strict COVID-related restrictions disrupted the manufacturing of new iPhones and other devices in the country and also to avoid a big hit to its business from tensions between Beijing and Washington.
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In January, India’s trade minister said that Apple, which began iPhone assembly in the country in 2017 through Wistron Corp and later Foxconn, wants India to account for up to 25% of its production from about 5-7% currently.
(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)