China’s Central Government Accelerates Ban on Apple iPhone’s

More government agencies in China and state-backed firms across the country have urged their employees not to bring Apple iPhones and other foreign gadgets to work.

For more than a decade, China has worked to lessen its reliance on foreign technologies, requiring state-owned enterprises such as banks to use local software and pushing domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing.

According to Bloomberg News, multiple state enterprises and government organizations in at least eight provinces have urged staff in the last month or two to begin carrying local goods.

According to Bloomberg News, smaller enterprises and agencies in lower-tier cities in provinces such as Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning, and central Hebei, which is home to the world’s largest iPhone manufacturer, issued their own verbal directions in December.

According to Bloomberg, employees in at least three ministries and government agencies were warned not to use iPhones at work in September. In extended trading, Apple’s stock was slightly lower at $196.50.

Apple has been diversifying its supply chain away from China, but it still need Chinese contractors to create the Vision Pro.

Protests against China’s COVID-zero lockdowns severely harmed Apple’s iPhone output in 2022. Since then, the corporation has worked to diversify its supply networks and move away from China.

Apples Move Away from China

It is instructing suppliers to plan more aggressively for producing Apple goods in other parts of Asia, including India and Vietnam, and is trying to minimize reliance on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn Technology Group.

The upheaval in iPhone City aided Apple’s decision. As many as 300,000 people labor in a Foxconn run factory in Zhengzhou, China, to manufacture iPhones and other Apple products.

According Apple market research firm Counterpoint Research, it once produced almost 85% of the Pro lineup of iPhone’s.

Meanwhile, Foxconn had received approval to invest an additional US$1 billion in addition to the US$1.6 billion it had previously put aside for the site near Karnataka’s Kempegowda International Airport in India. The facility might be used for EV business in addition to iPhone’s.

Foxconn expects to begin operations in Karnataka by April 2024. Along with building assembly lines, Foxconn is also developing dormitories for its employees.

According to The Economic Times, Foxconn has sought a daily supply of five million liters of water for the plant, with the Karnataka government pledging to match this demand.

In May, Foxconn paid INR3 billion for land near Bengaluru’s airport. Foxconn plans to invest INR30 billion, INR40 billion, and INR10 billion over the next three years, with the goal of producing 100,000 iPhone’s by December 2025, five million units by December 2026, and ten million units by December 2027, eventually reaching an annual capacity of 20 million units by December 2028.