Thailand
Apple Watch enters mass production in Vietnam
The Apple Watch has entered mass production in the nation, with Apple Watch 8’s shipment proportion from the country set to grow sharply to between 60% and 70%, according to details given by Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities.
The famous analyst believes that the tech giant will strive to boost the output of the next generation of Apple Watch in the Vietnamese market moving forward.
This comes after Apple Watch’s key assembler Luxshare Precision, which has production lines in both China and Vietnam, shipped a large quantity of the Apple Watch 7 from the Vietnamese market to other countries.
These move will contribute to turning Luxshare into the leading company in the race to develop Apple production lines outside of China.
The expert assessed that Luxshare will seek to take full advantage of this for long-term development amid a downward trend of reliance on China.
Japanese business publication Nikkei Asia revealed that Apple is currently in the process of holding talks to make Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time, thereby marking a further win for the country as the tech giant seeks to diversify production away from China.
In line with this, Apple suppliers Luxshare Precision Industry and Foxconn have already started test production of the Apple Watch in northern Vietnam for the primary purpose of producing the device outside of China for the very first time.
Apple’s shift, coupled with US-China tensions more broadly, represent something of a boon for Vietnam due to the number of Apple suppliers with facilities based in the country doubling compared to 2018.
Furthermore, since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the enterprise has moved several equipment production lines from China to neighbouring countries, including Vietnam.
Previously, other Apple products such as AirPods earphones have been sent to the Luxshare factory in the northern province of Bac Giang for production since 2020.
Several other major electronics manufacturers such as Google, Dell, and Amazon have also established production facilities in Vietnam as they seek to diversify beyond China.
Along with the nation, Apple has also moved production lines to India and Brazil for some products. However, the volume of equipment produced in these countries is only capable of meeting domestic demand and is therefore not sufficient to produce for the global market as a whole.
Moreover, the analyst pointed out that the gap for iPhone 14 capacity production in India remains huge compared to China, adding that the move is still an important milestone for Apple in terms of building an iPhone production facility outside of the Chinese market.
Source: VOV