Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is deepening its involvement with China while expanding its production in Southeast Asia and India, illustrating the iPhone maker’s delicate balancing act between political pressures and business needs.
In 2023, Apple increased its number of China-based suppliers and manufacturing sites, reducing its reliance on suppliers from Taiwan, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea, according to a Nikkei Asia review of Apple’s latest official supplier list.
Apple publishes an official list of its suppliers nearly every year. The most recent list includes 187 companies, accounting for 98% of the company’s procurement for fiscal 2023.
Since 2020, Chinese suppliers have become the largest group within Apple’s supplier network, growing to 52 in the last year from 48 in 2022. The number of manufacturing or development facilities in China, including those owned by domestic and foreign companies, increased by 10 to 286.
As Apple accelerates its supply chain shift to Southeast Asia amid the ongoing U.S.-China tech conflict, its ties with China continue to deepen.
The number of Apple ...