Apple Starts iPhone Production at Tata's New Plant in India

While US-based companies are scrambling to figure out and map alternative supply chains to cope with new US tariffs on Chinese-sourced products, Apple has demonstrated how fast and quick one can act, even if it is a $3 TRILLION market cap firm. Having already rolled out a rapid switch to its India assembly partners, to move nearly all of its US phones assembling to India, a new factory, operated by Tata Group, has now started production of Apple's latest iPhones.

The new Tata Electronics factory, in India's electronics manufacturing center of Hosur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, has begun to produce older models of iPhones, which is a sign of Tata's deeper insertion into Apple's supply chain. In the meantime, a second Foxconn plant in Bengaluru is on the verge of beginning trial production lines that will eventually make the iPhone 16 series, reports have said. The $2.6 billion investment in Karnataka will employ approximately 50,000 workers when it reaches full capacity by 2027's end.

China continues to produce more than 75 percent of the firm's iPhone, but India's proportion has quickly jumped to an impressive 18 percent, based on research by market watcher Counterpoint. Apple's goal internally is to move most of its iPhone production for the American market to Indian plants by 2026. By doing so, Apple will be able to reduce risks that come with excessive dependence on Chinese production. By expanding production capacity in India, Apple can have a more robust supply chain that can withstand geopolitical risks and possible trade disruptions better.