Foxconn to Move Some China Apple Production to Vietnam, Reports Say

What’s new: Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics and the biggest assembler of Apple products, will move the manufacturing of some Apple Inc. iPads and MacBooks to Vietnam from China, Bloomberg reported.

Reuters reported that Foxconn, formerly known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is building assembly lines for Apple’s tablet and notebook products at its plant in the northern Vietnamese province of Bac Giang, which will come online in the first half of 2021.

Foxconn earlier this week announced $270 million of new investments, which were for the Vietnam plant, Bloomberg said citing an unidentified source.

What’s the context: Global manufacturers have been shifting some of their production capacity out of China amid escalating tensions between China and the U.S. over the past couple of years.

Vietnam remains the most favored destination, followed by Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand, according to a recent survey by Standard Chartered Plc.

Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said in August the company moved more manufacturing to Southeast Asia and other regions to avoid escalating tariffs on Chinese-made goods headed to U.S. markets. The proportion outside the country reached 30%, up from 25% last June.

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Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).

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