Apple CEO Tim Cook poses successful beforehand of a caller MacBook Airs moving M2 chips show during Apple's yearly Worldwide Developers Conference successful San Jose, California, June 6, 2022.
Peter Dasilva | Reuters
Apple volition statesman producing immoderate of its MacBook computers successful Vietnam adjacent year, according to a Nikkei Asia report Tuesday.
The determination reflects the tech giant's propulsion to grow its manufacturing beyond China, arsenic it grapples with increased U.S.-China commercialized tensions and proviso concatenation disruptions related to Covid lockdowns.
Apple was reportedly successful talks successful August to determination immoderate accumulation for its Apple Watches, MacBooks and HomePods to Vietnam. Now, the company's assembly spouse Foxconn could statesman producing MacBooks successful the state arsenic soon arsenic May of 2023, according to Nikkei Asia.
Apple makes astir 20 cardinal to 24 cardinal MacBooks each year, according to the report. Nikkei Asia said the institution has been readying to displacement immoderate of its MacBook accumulation to Vietnam for the past 2 years.
The company's manufacturing partners already physique immoderate iPhones successful India and person been successful talks to build AirPods there, too.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook has committed to buying U.S.-made chips from a caller Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing mill successful Arizona. TSMC is gathering 2 plants successful the state, with the archetypal acceptable to unfastened successful 2024 and different to unfastened successful 2026.
Shares of Apple were down little than 1% successful premarket trading Tuesday.
It's been a challenging twelvemonth for Apple to navigate the proviso chain. Last month, factory employees clashed with information unit astatine the Zhengzhou works successful China, the world's largest iPhone factory, tally by Foxconn. The mill was besides deed by a Covid-19 outbreak in October that caused workers to fly the facility as the institution moved to power the outbreak by isolating infected people.
Analysts said the unrest successful China volition impact Apple's December quarter, historically Apple's biggest quarter, which is bolstered by the vacation buying season.
Apple did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.