Apple iPhone maker Foxconn to invest $1.5 billion in India as it looks to build beyond China

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A factory at the mobile phone plant of Rising Stars Mobile India, a unit of Foxconn in Tamil Nadu, India, on July 12, 2019.

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Foxconn Technology will invest more than $1.5 billion in an Indian construction project to fulfill the Apple supplier’s “operational needs,” the company announced in Taiwanese security filings Monday.

The $1.541 billion investment was made through a Foxconn subsidiary, Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, which has been registered in India’s Maharashtra state since 2015, according to one of the securities filings and Indian corporate records. A concurrent filing said the same subsidiary would budget the equivalent amount in Indian rupees for a construction project to fulfill “operational needs.”

Foxconn is a major Apple supplier and has significant operations in mainland China. Foxconn’s factories are a critical part of Apple’s iPhone manufacturing and were hit hard when Covid-19 lockdowns slowed production to a crawl in 2022.

Those lockdowns, alongside general geopolitical tumult, have prompted Apple suppliers such as Foxconn to reassess their concentrated presence in China. Foxconn has already announced multiple projects inside India, including a $600 million project in Karnataka state and a $500 million factory in Telangana state.

No further detail was given in the securities filings, and a Foxconn spokesperson did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The fresh investment comes a few months after Foxconn pulled out of a $19.5 billion chipmaking joint venture in India by “mutual agreement,” the company said at the time. Foxconn added it remained “confident” about India’s semiconductor industry ambitions.

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