Foxconn Deepens Apple's India Footprint with iPhone Chassis Manufacturing

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn could start preparing production of metal enclosures for iPhones in India. This development expands Foxconn's role in iPhone manufacturing beyond the assembly line and also doubles down Apple's efforts toward local production in the country.

According to The Economic Times, Foxconn is gearing up to manufacture iPhone chassis in India by building a new unit at its ESR Industrial Park facility in Oragadam, Tamil Nadu. This part of the production was previously only handled by Tata Electronics in India, which recently took over the iPhone repair wing in the region.

Until now, Foxconn India was only responsible for assembling iPhones at its Sriperumbudur plant. Construction for the new chassis-production unit is already underway, and it'll be a separate unit in their facility, close to another display module assembly unit that's in the final stages of development.

The Taiwanese company is also venturing into production of AirPods in its new Hyderabad plant, alongside an expansion of its iPhone assembly line in a unit near Bengaluru.

While this development solidifies Apple's manufacturing foothold in the Indian soil, Foxconn's value addition in local iPhone production would be less than 10%. That's partly also because iPhone casings only contribute to 2–3% of Apple's total Bill of Materials (BoM) for the device.

For Apple, the move ties together with Apple CEO Tim Cook's recent statements that echo that the majority of iPhones sold in the US will be primarily manufactured in India. However, it hasn't been smooth sailing for the Cupertino company, as US President Donald Trump recently threatened to levy a 25% tariff on every non-US-made iPhone sold in the US, just days after Tim Cook was told not to produce iPhones in India.