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Apple’s iPhones likely to be assembled in Vietnam
Apple iPhone assembler Pegatron Corp has recently unveiled its expansion plan in other countries including Vietnam due to COVID-19 restrictions in China, according to Reuters.
“We faced COVID controls for two months. We couldn’t have assessed that in advance, so that makes me emphasise our expansions in Vietnam, India, Indonesia, and North America, to solve our labour shortage, the gap between peak and low seasons, and to increase the utilisation of our production capacity”, President Liao Syh-jang told an annual shareholder meeting in Taipei.
In April, Taiwan-headquartered Pegatron suspended operations at its Shanghai and Kunshan plants in China due to strict COVID-19 protocols, impacting production and deliveries. China has since lifted those restrictions.
In recent years, Pegatron has sought to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia and North America.
Chairman of Pegatron Tzu-Hsien Tung added that their customers had “different reasons” for setting up factories in Vietnam, India and Mexico.
“But one shared factor is the ability to reduce concentration in Shanghai, Suzhou, Chongqing,” Tung said, adding that recruiting staff in China has become increasingly difficult over the past seven to eight years.
According to the executive, with the COVID pandemic easing globally, China coming out of its lockdowns to control the coronavirus and the electronics industry’s peak season coming later in the year, the rest of 2022 should be much better for the company.
“Combining these factors, I expect the second half of the year to be better, or a lot better, than quarter two”, he noted.
The plan to expand the production line to Vietnam has been provoked since 2020. Currently, Pegatron is building a factory in the northern port city of Hai Phong in Vietnam.
A series of Apple’s assembly partners such as Foxconn, Luxshare, and Goertek have also set up their factories in Vietnam, but none production base has yet assembled iPhones.
Apple products manufactured in Vietnam currently include AirPods headphones and HomePod speakers.
Another Apple’s partner, BYD, has recently moved the iPad production line to Vietnam, making Vietnam the first nation after China to have an Apple tablet assembly plant.
Apart from Apple, major electronics firms including Samsung and Xiaomi have also set up their manufacturing facilities in Vietnam.
Source: VOV