Apple in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand – Nikkei

(Reuters) -Apple Inc is in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to expand its manufacturing presence beyond China, the Nikkei reported on Thursday.

Suppliers involved in the talks already have manufacturing complexes in Thailand for other clients and are discussing possible assembly and production of components and modules for MacBooks, sources from three suppliers involved in the talks with Apple told Nikkei.

Apple has also been mass producing its Apple Watch in Thailand for more than a year, according to the report.

The iPhone maker did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

At least 18 suppliers including Compal Electronics Inc, Sony Group Corp and Western Digital Corp have operations in Thailand, according to Apple’s latest supplier list.

Apple and its key suppliers have been shifting production away from China, where strict COVID-19 curbs disrupted Foxconn’s biggest iPhone factory last year.

Apple is also seeking to avoid a hit to its business due to tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Separately, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that the company has tripled its production of iPhones in India, assembling over $7 billion worth of smartphones in the country in the last fiscal year.

There has been a significant increase in Apple’s production in India as it attracts more new customers in the Asian country and shifts production from China, TechInsights industry analyst Abhilash Kumar said.

Foxconn said last month it plans to ramp up investment outside of China. Pegatron Corp, another Apple supplier, was in talks to open a second India factory, Reuters reported last month.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma, Yana Gaur and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Shounak Dasgupta)