Apple and India might need to woo not just Trump but Xi too

Beijing's approval would ease Apple's supply chain shift to India

- MIHIR SHARMA

Apple and its main manufacturing contractor, Hon Hai Precision Company, are still betting on India. When Hon Hai—better known as Foxconn—revealed through an exchange filing last week that it was putting another $1.5 billion into its operations there, it will have calmed a few nerves in New Delhi.

Worries about the future of Apple in the country had been set off by US President Donald Trump, who said last month that he had told the company's CEO Tim Cook, "I don't want you building in India." This seemed to contradict hopes, shared by both Cupertino and New Delhi, that most iPhones for the US market would come from India by the end of 2026.

But on the ground, Apple Inc's turn to the South Asian country seems well-entrenched.

Reports have emerged of a new Foxconn campus meant to house 30,000 employees. This would be the largest such effort in India's recent history. And another contract manufacturer, Tata Electronics, is now assembling the iPhone 16 at its South Indian plant.

Yet, CEOs and politicians may have begun to realize that the difficulties involved in shifting—or duplicating—an entire manufacturing ecosystem extend beyond placating Trump. This is a complex environment and there are severe obstacles to moving it out of China. US politics is only one, though perhaps the loudest.