Apple Accelerates 'China Exodus' by Producing iPods in India...

Foxconn Invests 670 Billion KRW

Apple, which is relocating its production base from China to India, plans to manufacture the portable media player iPod in India following the iPhone.

KT Rama Rao, IT and Industries Minister of Telangana, India, announced on his Twitter on the 15th (local time) that Taiwan's Foxconn will invest $50 billion (approximately 6.706 trillion KRW) to build a new factory in Kongara Kalaan.

Minister Rao expects this investment to create 25,000 jobs.

The factory Foxconn is building in India is expected to become the iPod production base. Foxconn, Apple's largest partner, reportedly received the iPod order from Apple last March. Initially hesitant to produce iPods due to low margins, Foxconn is said to have accepted Apple's proposal to maintain their ongoing relationship.

This will be the first time iPods are produced in India. Until now, iPods have been manufactured by several of Apple's partners in China.

Apple is accelerating its move away from China due to escalating geopolitical tensions from the US-China conflict and production disruptions caused by China's lockdown policies after COVID-19. For example, production of the iPhone 14, released last year, began in India in September, and plans to relocate iPad production bases from China to India are also under consideration. Earlier in March, Bloomberg reported that Foxconn planned to invest $700 million (938.3 billion KRW) to build a new factory in India.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also visited India last month for the first time in seven years and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reaffirm investment in India.