Apple adds more India-based companies to its supply chain

Yet more news from Apple’s fast-expanding supply chain in India where Apple added Molex, Onsemi, and Shenzhen Erwin Precision Technology as suppliers.

The expansion will continue

These three names join the company’s regularly updated Apple Suppliers List for 2022. The list names the company’s top 200 suppliers who between them account for 98% of what Apple spends each year on materials, manufacturing, and product assembly.

The addition of these three means the company now has 14 suppliers in India. The three are based in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.

These smaller suppliers complement and support Apple’s larger makers there, now including Foxconn,Pegatron and Tata. The latter seems to have taken on the business formerly run by Wistron. Component suppliers in the nation include Foxlink, Jabil, Flex and more.

A state of change

Despite accelerating growth in India, the Apple supply chain remains primarily China-based, with 151 suppliers based there. At the same time the company seems to be encouraging suppliers to set facilities up elsewhere, particularly India and Vietnam. Many of its Chinese suppliers now also have facilities elsewhere.

Apple sees India as an engine for future growth, and not just in terms of production. The nation already accounts for around 5% of iPhone production and this is anticipated to reach 25% in the next couple of years. But Apple also saw record revenues in India in the last quarter.

A big bet on Apple’s future

Visiting India to open Apple’s first retail stores there in early 2023. Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future — from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, we’re committed to growing and investing across the country.”

He also said, “India is at a tipping point. You can just feel the vibrancy, the dynamism, the feeling that anything here is possible. And it’s so great to be a part of it. It feels so great to be back.

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