Broadening sights to all of East Asia
We have already mentioned India several times this year: the signs indicate that the suppliers installed within its borders are taking charge of manufacturing part of the iPad and the iPhone 12, and now we read from Cult of Mac that the AirPods and the range of Beats headphones could also be made there. Of the latter, production could start during the first months of 2023.
In parallel we also have an increase in production within the United States itself, although it is very relative. Yes, the number of US facilities has doubled over the past year, but we are still talking about fewer than 50 factories. And at the moment, according to 9to5Mac, they are focused on testing and prototyping. Nothing massive at the moment, the only thing that has been produced entirely in the country has been the Mac Pro and we still have to know what will happen with the next generation that already includes Apple Silicon.
Diversification isn’t the only reason Apple wants to spread out its suppliers across multiple countries. China’s still very restrictive policies to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 and geopolitical tensions mean that Apple simply seek to have certain production assured, in case these tensions escalate to worse levels than we have today. This is not good news for the Chinese government, which will have to work hard to try to somehow retain suppliers.
Over time we will have to move from mentioning China to mentioning Asia as the most global manufacturing zone, knowing that Vietnam has also been taking over the manufacture of some products for some time. Logistically it will be more complicatedbut precisely we have a former COO and now CEO like Tim Cook directing the operation.