While Apple has initiated a hiring freeze at its core operations, it is ramping up its production capacity in India. India’s Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnav, recently announced that India’s largest iPhone manufacturing plant will appear in Hosur, near Bangalore. This factory will employ about 60,000 people; of which 6,000 will be tribal women from the regions surrounding Ranchi and Hazaribag who will be trained in iPhone production. They will be the first workers in the new factory.
This is part of Apple’s larger push for manufacturing in India after they switched to local production of Airpods. There has also been a strong effort to close the technology gap with China and reduce the production backlog by six to nine months.
This news comes after a report revealed that Foxconn planned to increase the workforce at their Indian iPhone manufacturing plants. They plan to increase the total number of employees to 70,000, adding another 53,000 workers over the next two years as part of Apple’s larger strategy to shift production from China.
Meanwhile, Karnataka could also be home to India’s first chip manufacturing facility, as the International Chip Consortium announced a plan to build a $3 billion chip manufacturing plant in Mysore. This is also backed by up to $5.6 billion in government support.
China is no longer Apple’s favorite.
China has been a sore point for Foxconn and Apple, as manufacturers in the country have experienced production disruptions due to a host of problems. Their Zhengzhou factory employs more than 200,000 people and is expected to face capacity shortages during the upcoming Moon Festival and Chinese New Year period.
Apple is also facing a supply shortage of its new iPhones due to the closure of an assembly plant in China. Not only was the country asked to close factories in the midst of a deadly heat wave in August, they were also extremely strict in their Zero-COVID policy.
Sources at Foxconn also said they plan to ramp up production in India to meet the country’s strong demand for iPhones as well as to increase production capacity for basic phone models.
Will India become Apple’s next gold mine?
India has become the apple of Apple’s eye, as the tech giant’s Indian revenue recently hit a record $4.03 billion. That’s almost 45% more than last year. India also set a new revenue record for iPhone sales last quarter, solidifying its position as one of the most valuable markets for Apple.
According to Counterpoint Research, Apple has a 37% share of the premium smartphone market in India and is the best-selling brand in the ultra-premium segment.
Hiring freeze in the U.S. vs. hiring growth in India
Although it has not been officially announced, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that they are “very prudent” about hiring and that they continue to hire, but not everywhere in the company. In August, the company laid off about 100 contract recruiters as a cost-cutting measure due to weak iPhone 14 sales worldwide.
Their efforts to expand in India stand in stark contrast to the hiring freeze in the West. India appears to be the next big market for tech firms, which are not only building up their talent pool, but also using funds to provide manufacturing capacity.
