Sources: Apple's India expansion has been slow due to logistics, tariffs, infrastructure, suppliers and officials lacking a “sense of urgency”, and other issues
Apple is hitting stumbling blocks in its effort to increase production in India, as the US tech giant faces pressure to cut its manufacturing reliance on China.
The reported logistics, tariff, infrastructure, and coordination problems turn diversification from a sourcing decision into a capacity-building challenge for Apple and its suppliers.
First-order effects
Apple’s effort to raise Indian production is slowed, limiting how quickly it can reduce manufacturing reliance on China.
Suppliers serving Apple in India must contend with logistics, tariff, infrastructure, and coordination hurdles while building local production capacity.
Second-order effects
Apple’s China-based manufacturing base retains a larger role for longer, even as Apple had told suppliers to pursue production outside China with an emphasis on India and Vietnam.
India’s supplier ecosystem faces pressure to resolve the operational bottlenecks that make it harder for Apple to shift production volume into local sites.
Third-order effects
The episode points to a capacity-lag pattern in hardware diversification: assembling devices in a new country is faster than reproducing the logistics, supplier depth, and operating coordination behind established manufacturing hubs.
The trend: Consumer-electronics supply chains are diversifying geographically, but production shifts are constrained by the time required to build integrated local manufacturing ecosystems.
“At a casings factory in Hosur run by Indian conglomerate Tata, one of Apple's suppliers, just about one out of every two components coming off the production line is in good enough shape to eventually be sent to Foxconn, Apple's assembly partner for https://www.ft.com/...... htt…
“Just about one out of every two components coming off Apple's production line in Hosur is in good enough shape to eventually be sent to Foxconn”: @FT on the travails of ‘Make in India’. Read: https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
People familiar with the matter say logistics, tariffs and infrastructure is making the expansion to India less smooth vs the expansion to Southeast Asia. One said “there just isn't a sense of urgency.”
Apple's manufacturing shift to #India hits stumbling blocks. “They should have started this exercise five years ago. They should have started diversification earlier so they would reap the benefit at this time.” https://www.ft.com/... w/ @PatrickMcGee_
“He suggested its engineers learn the art of jugaad — a way of “making do” or transcending obstacles. “Because everything in India is an obstacle,” he said.” This is exactly the half-assed logic that will lead to companies like Apple running to Vietnam. https://www.ft.com/...
Apple has been trying to shift some manufacturing to India in the wake of China's zero covid policies and criticism that their supply chain has grown far too reliant on China. But things are off to a rough start. https://giftarticle.ft.com/...
Apple's experience in recent months has demonstrated the scale of the work to be done in India. Deep dive, by @PatrickMcGee_ & @JohnReedwrites https://www.ft.com/...