Apple’s iPhone 16e is among the models to be built by a new Foxconn plant in India
Tata has opened a new iPhone factory in India, while a new Foxconn operation is now just days away from being operational, but it’s continuing Apple’s years of moving away from China, rather than being a response to the “reciprocal” tariffs.
Tata’s new iPhone plant has been planned since 2024, when it bought Pegatron’s facility in Hosur in Tamil Nadu. That sale happened after a fire closed the factory, but Tata already owned an ex-Wistron iPhone plant and announced it would next build one itself.
Now according to Reuters, the new Tata facility in Hosur is operational. It has reportedly begun manufacturing within the last few days, and is producing older iPhone models.
Separately, a $2.6 billion plant being built by Apple’s largest iPhone manufacturer, Foxconn, is about to open. Based in Bengaluru, in India’s Karnataka state, the new Foxconn facility is to start initial operations with a single assembly line within days.
Foxconn has not announced details of the plant, but sources say it will be used to produce the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e. It’s also expected to ultimately add 50,000 jobs to the region, when it is fully operational in 2027.
Both of these new facilities have been in planning since long before Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs were announced and Apple got a temporary exemption. But Apple has now been pressing suppliers to move away from over-reliance on China for years.
Under the current trade climate, the move is helping Apple by shifting iPhone production away from the higher tariff imposed on China. The tariffs that Apple has to pay have sped up the company’s moves away from China, but despite White House claims, haven’t and can’t see it moving manufacturing to the US.
Apple and Tata expansion in India
Alongside its acquisitions from Pegatron and Wistron, Tata’s new facility represents its third major iPhone manufacturing center in India. In 2024, the Tata Group also made moves to take over a rival smartphone supplier, but Apple reportedly vetoed the deal.
Nonetheless, in just over a year since March 2024’s acquisition of a Wistron plant was finalized, Tata has moved from a small accessories supplier, into being a major iPhone manufacturer. The enormous Tata Group — more than a million employees worldwide and over $165 billion in annual revenue — is now Apple’s only Indian-owned iPhone assembler.
Tata bought its way into iPhone production by acquiring facilities such as those by Wistron
The Tata Group has been benefitting from Apple’s long-term plans to develop India as a major iPhone producer. The now long-standing US/China trade tensions have been a factor, but the move has also been prompted by issues with production in China.
During Covid, Apple’s over-reliance on China meant that there were severe delays in manufacturing. Apple even made a rare statement about the situation, explaining why the iPhone 14 range was in short supply.
Then since 2021, the Chinese government has been forcing companies to shut down periodically, in order to conserve electricity, and avoid power cuts.
Consequently, Apple has been moving production away from China, even before Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs were purportedly intended to motivate a return to manufacturing in the US. However, the costs of such a move, as well as the skill shortage in the US mean Apple will continue to expand overseas, particularly in India.
