TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Apple is planning to have a portion of MacBook production relocated to Vietnam as it looks to diversify its production base away from China.
Apple has asked its top supplier Foxconn to start manufacturing MacBooks in Vietnam as early as May 2023, sources told Nikkei. Apple has been eager to set up production sites outside of China for all its major products, but MacBook assembly has taken longer because of its complicated supply chain, the report said.
Apple currently produces between 20 and 24 million MacBooks a year from production facilities in Chengdu and Shanghai, but has been working to set up manufacturing in Vietnam for almost two years, per Nikkei.
The US tech giant has relied on China as a manufacturing base for decades, but this year, that strategy has become more problematic. A COVID lockdown in Shanghai in the spring affected MacBook and iPhone production facilities, while protests over COVID restrictions in November at Foxconn’s massive iPhone complex in Zhengzhou are also leading to delays in the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max just in time for the holidays, Nikkei said.
Apple’s footprint in Vietnam began in 2020 when it started making AirPods there, while the company has also moved some iPad and Apple Watch assembly to the Southeast Asian country this year, according to Nikkei.
Meanwhile, Apple in October said it has also started making the iPhone 14 in India, while it plans to significantly up iPhone production there this year and next, Nikkei said. The American company is also looking to have some AirPods and Beats headphones production moved to India.
