Apple reportedly to team up with Hon Hai to invest in India

Taipei, Sept. 17 (CNA) American multinational technology company Apple Inc. is planning to partner with Taiwan's manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. to invest about US$1 billion in India, according to the Times of India.

The decision by Apple comes amid a trade war between China and United States, which has driven companies with manufacturing bases in China to look elsewhere, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

Apple now is planning to sell "Made in India" phones across the world, the report said.

"Apple will be investing US$1 billion through its partners. They have said the production will be used for meeting for the demand for its products across the markets," the report said, citing an official source.

According to the report, iPhone assembler Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn in the global market, will be Apple's investment partner, but it gave no details of the size of Hon Hai's investment.

Hon Hai's factory in Chennai will be used to manufacture Apple products for the global market, the report said.

In addition, several suppliers of electronics components to Hon Hai are planning to set up production bases in India, the report said.

Wistron Corp. of Taiwan is producing iPhones at its plant in Bangalore, and the Hon Hai investment will be an expansion of the iPhone manufacturing lines in India, the report said.

The Wistron factory in India started to roll out iPhone 6s last year and began producing iPhone 7 this year. Apple has started to sell both models to the European market.

On a list of Apple's major suppliers released in March, several Hon Hai subsidiaries were among the top 200, including those in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Fort Worth, Texas; Bac Giang, Vietnam; Tainan, Taiwan; and Tamil Nadu, India along with its units located in China.