Apple iPhone maker Foxconn to invest $1.5 bn in India

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn plans to invest $1.54 billion in India, as the country doubles down on local manufacturing.

In a stock exchange filing, Foxconn said that the investment will help it fulfil “operational needs.”

The company, however, did not provide further details.

Foxconn is the main assembler of Apple iPhones and both companies are keen to move away from China and create alternative supply chains.

Foxconn already has an iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu, which employs 40,000 people and has signed an agreement to invest Rs 1,600 crore in a new electronics components unit in the state that will create 6,000 jobs.

The company has also announced that it will be investing an additional Rs 3,300 crore in its manufacturing facility in Telangana. This will take the total investment of the company in the state to more than Rs 4,550 crore.

In September, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government was "fully committed" to support Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn's ambitious plans to double its manufacturing capacity in the country.

"Fully committed to support and facilitate," Vaishnaw said on X in response to Foxconn India representative V Lee's LinkedIn post to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 73rd birthday in which he said the company was “aiming for another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and business size in India” by this time next year.

Foxconn chairman Young Liu had visited India recently to attend the ‘SemiconIndia 2023’ event hosted for global semiconductor companies that was inaugurated by PM Modi in Gandhinagar.

Speaking at the event, the Foxconn chairman said, "I can feel the determination of the Indian government. I am very optimistic about where it's headed."