Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn has procured machinery worth $32 million (about ₹276 crore) for manufacturing Apple products in India. The purchase comes months after China allegedly delayed shipments of specialised equipment and restricted new work rotations for Chinese employees at its Indian factories.
In a regulatory filing, Foxconn said, its subsidiary, Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, acquired machinery and equipment worth $32.26 million for “Apple Operations.”
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This marks the first major machinery import for iPhone manufacturing in over six months. Previously, in October 2024, Foxconn procured specialised equipment worth $31.8 million (about ₹267 crore) to begin manufacturing Apple’s high-end iPhone 16 Pro series at its Tamil Nadu facility.
In January 2025, Rest of World reported that Foxconn had halted new work rotations for Chinese employees at its iPhone factories in India, instead of deploying Taiwanese workers.
The report, citing sources familiar with Foxconn’s India operations, also noted that shipments of specialised manufacturing equipment meant for India had been delayed in China, potentially disrupting assembly lines at Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu plants, which employs around 50,000 workers.
The delays and workforce restrictions were attributed to the Chinese government, which reportedly views Apple’s India manufacturing push and the China+1 strategy as a competitive threat.
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Foxconn’s latest machinery procurement also comes at a time when the company is reportedly planning to double its iPhone production in India to 25-30 million units in 2025, up from around 12 million units in the previous year. While most of its current production takes place at its Sriperumbudur plant near Chennai, reports suggest that Foxconn has begun trial production at its upcoming ₹25,000 crore manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. Dubbed as “Project Elephant”, the facility is expected to assemble 20 million smartphones annually and will be Foxconn’s largest unit in India and the second largest globally.
According to a recent PTI report, Apple will commence production of airpods for exports at the Foxconn plant in Hyderabad from April. Airpods will be the second product category that Apple will start producing in India after iPhones.
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