Mumbai, India
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As India accounts for a growing share of iPhone production, Apple and its suppliers are planning to build residential units by the thousands.
India is becoming increasingly important to Apple as the company works to reduce its over-reliance on China, and Apple has already built new offices in the country. Now, with Bloomberg reporting that India assembles one in seven iPhones, Apple is looking to build housing for employees.
The rise of one in seven iPhones means production in India has doubled compared to the last fiscal year. This means India produced $14 billion worth of iPhones, or roughly 14% of Apple's total production.
Apple has made no secret of the fact that it wants to expand its operations in India, and says its intention is to produce 25% of all iPhones there annually by 2028. It's part of a years-long effort by Apple and its suppliers to end or at least significantly reduce its dependence on China as the sole source of iPhones.
According to Bloomberg, all major Apple suppliers are involved in increasing production in India. Thus, by the end of the fiscal year in March 2024, Foxconn produced approximately 67% of the iPhones produced in India.
Pegatron reportedly manufactured about 17% of iPhones in India, while the rest were manufactured by Wistron.
It is not known how many people are currently employed in iPhone production in India, but local publication Business Standard reports that Apple has directly created 150,000 new jobs there over the past two and a half years. It is for these workers that new housing is planned.
Business Standard reports that Indian government officials said the houses were built in the country's largest public-private partnership. Apple suppliers Foxconn, Tata and Salcomp are rumored to be developing more than 78,000 units.
It is unknown how many workers will be placed in the blocks. But government officials said the housing was being built specifically for female employees who face long commutes to work.
They also said that the majority of female employees currently live in rented accommodation, and that this raises unspecified safety concerns.
This is not the first time that Apple and its suppliers or partners have been involved in housing construction. However, the leading example of this is California, where Apple has spent $1.5 billion by July 2023 to combat the state's housing crisis.
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