It’s no secret that Apple has been pushing its supply chain out of China. With an ever-growing Washington-Beijing tension and the zero-COVID policy that the Asian country had for years getting in the way of the Cupertino firm business, Apple has been slowly pushing its production to other countries, such as Vietnam and India.
Two reports by Bloomberg outline this change. The first one shows the Cupertino firm is making India its own region for sales operations. According to Mark Gurman, with the company’s sale vice president for India and Africa retiring, Apple will promote Ashish Chowdhary AS the current head of the country.
While the company didn’t make the move public yet, it shows how India is becoming more critical for Apple’s product development. With record revenue in the last quarter and Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, saying the company is putting “a lot of emphasis on the market,” it’s also important to note that key suppliers are moving to the region.
Last week, the business chief of GoerTek, Apple’s AirPods maker, said in an interview with Bloomberg News that Apple suppliers want to exit China as geopolitical tension rises. Now, the publication is reporting that he’s leaving the manufacturer for “personal reasons.”
Bloomberg implies that Kazuyoshi Yoshinaga is leaving GoerTek due to this interview, as Apple’s suppliers rarely comment on their thinking. While Yoshinaga described how big US names are “pressuring their Chinese suppliers to explore alternative production bases beyond the country, such as India and Vietnam,” it didn’t say Apple is specifically making this move.
As the publication outlines, the problem is that if Tim Cook admits China will stop being a priority, it would mean all the investment and ecosystem created, which employs millions of people, would fall. In addition, the Chinese government could make it difficult for Apple to continue operating its business in the country as it is.
