AirPods will be made in India soon after Foxconn wins Apple order: Report

Foxconn, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer that makes 70 percent of iPhones, makes a significant portion of Apple’s AirPods in India. To facilitate this, Foxconn plans to invest $200 million to build a new factory in Telangana.

Reuters reports that Foxconn has won an order from Apple that will allow it to manufacture AirPods for the first time ever, marking a gradual shift away from dependence on China.

A source has confirmed to Reuters that Foxconn is investing more than $200 million in a new AirPods factory in Telangana, India. However, the exact value of the AirPods subscription is still unclear. The source also revealed that Foxconn officials had been mulling over the production of AirPods for several months due to lower profit margins, but ultimately decided to go ahead with the deal to strengthen their partnership with Apple.

“That way we are more likely to get orders for their new products,” the Reuters source said.

Apple has chosen India as a manufacturing location to diversify production and reduce dependence on China amid recent COVID outbreaks and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. Construction of the Telangana manufacturing facility is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, and AirPods production will begin at the end of 2024 at the earliest, according to the source.

It’s unclear how Foxconn’s production plan will affect current AirPods suppliers, including Luxshare Precision Industry and Goertek Inc, which have not responded.

Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Foxconn was considering manufacturing iPhone parts on a 300-acre site near Bengaluru, Karnataka. This move could potentially create up to 1,00,000 jobs in India and mark the shift of the electronic component manufacturing hub away from China.

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