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China’s social media sounds the alarm bell about India’s development as Apple’s next hub for iPhone manufacturing supply chain
- Chinese social media users have raised concerns about the country potentially losing its primary role in Apple’s manufacturing supply chain to India
- India expects mobile phones to become one of the country’s top 10 products for export by next year, up from zero in 2014
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Coco Fengin Beijing
The development of India into a major smartphone production base has sparked increased concerns across Chinese social media that mainland China is at risk of losing its primary role in Apple’s manufacturing supply chain.
That sentiment intensified last week on reports that Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group plans to invest about US$700 million on a new plant in India to boost local production, signifying an accelerated shift of production away from China amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington.
“Foxconn is the weather vane of the manufacturing industry,” online economics influencer Gengbaixingjun wrote on Monday in a post on Chinese microblogging service Weibo, where he has more than 600,000 followers.
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“[The company] not only creates many jobs directly, but also indirectly drives many industrial [supply] chains,” Gengbaixingjun said, adding that Foxconn’s latest initiative in India has made the South Asian country a rival to China in terms of electronics contract manufacturing.
Other netizens on Monday also expressed their apprehensions about the potential shift of Apple’s manufacturing supply chain away from China. Weibo user Miguyuegeqian questioned whether Foxconn would move all of its factories to India, while another user Woniuxingdetuibian posted that it was a “pity” so many businesses are moving to India.
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