Apple B'luru will miss Japan, Taiwan component units

Apple’s decision to set up its manufacturing facility in Bengaluru will miss the supplier ecosystem from Japanese and Taiwanese companies, as they are not keen to      set up facilities in India immediately.

With these developments, Apple will have to depend on importing the required components from Taiwan and Japan to have an assembling and packaging unit in Bengaluru.

According to sources familiar with the development, Japanese and Taiwanese companies who comprise the majority of suppliers for Apple products, have already set up their manufacturing base in their respective countries and China to meet global supply demands.

The Karnataka government recently stated that Apple will be setting up its third global manufacturing facility in the city. When DH contacted Japanese and Taiwanese officials who are privy to this development said supply chain companies are not ready to open their shops at this point of time.

“Japanese companies existing manufacturing facilities can meet the Apple’s supply demand till 2023. So they will not open any manufacturing facility at this point of time in India,” said an official who is handling Japanese companies.

Taiwanese consulate office from Chennai said the leading supplier from the country Wistron is most unlikely to set up a facility when Apple begins its assembly plant.

Currently, Apple has developed a hardware and software supplier ecosystem at its China and Taiwan plants. Its sourcing ecosystem is spread across 28 countries, and the majority of them are done by 70 odd companies in Taiwan, China, and Japan. Apart from Flextronics and Bosch India, none of Apple components suppliers has any facility in India. Also, Bengaluru doesn’t have any ecosystem for mobile manufacturing.

The only company involved from Bengaluru is Bosch India, which is supplying pressure sensors based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

Robert Bosch Electronics Engineering division General Manager Uday Prabhu said the company has 100-odd strong MEMS team.

“In the MEMs area, we do the design and testing from India and fabrication is done from the German plant. We have achieved a good maturity level, and are progressing to build products,” said Prabhu.

Besides its supply chain, the company is helped by its warehouse, the company owned and operated showrooms, and well-oiled after services to operate economically around the globe. Apple’s India decision to replicate it will depend on the concessions that the government will offer, and how GST will pan out across the country.

Art of assembling

Apple will have to depend on importing the required components for its assembling in Bengaluru

Apple’s sourcing ecosystem is spread across 28 countries, and majority of them located in Taiwan, China and Japan