China-US Tensions Had Forced Apple to Warn Suppliers
The initiative has grown more critical as the potential of disruption in both China and Taiwan becomes more serious. Apple has long been making incremental progress toward decreasing its reliance on China as a manufacturing hub. Due to tensions between the US and China in the area sparked by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives’ visit to Taiwan, Apple’s suppliers were left in the dark. Apple had allegedly warned suppliers of more Chinese retaliation after the holiday and warned that China’s reaction might hamper the shipping of iPhones or their components. Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst, predicted earlier this month that the manufacturing of the iPhone 14 would start concurrently in China and India. However, Bloomberg today reports that while Apple had hoped this would be possible, it has decided this isn’t feasible. Instead, it aims to reduce the delay between launch production in China and later output in India. The company has been working with suppliers to ramp up manufacturing in India and shorten the new iPhone’s production lag from the typical six to nine months for previous launches, according to people familiar with the matter. -Bloomberg According to the source, the iPhone 14’s manufacturing starting in India in late October is the most achievable target at the moment. In an attempt to maintain a continuous supply chain in the event of a disaster, manufacturers are embracing the strategy of having their facilities in alternate nations due to the rising tensions between China and several other countries. -Bloomberg
