Apple supplier Foxconn assures normal operations at Shenzhen campus amid growing speculation over shift in production from China to India

Foxconn Technology Group has denied growing speculation that it is dismantling assembly lines at its production complex in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, following concerns raised on Chinese social media that the country stands to lose its primary role in Apple’s manufacturing supply chain.

Reports earlier this month that Apple supplier Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, plans to invest about US$700 million on a new plant in India to boost local production fanned heightened concerns across Chinese social media of an accelerated shift of production away from China, as tensions between Beijing and Washington escalate. The Taiwanese company, however, has not formally announced that investment.

The response from Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, underlines its position that China will remain a major part of the company’s electronics manufacturing network.

In February, senior officials of central Henan province went on a charm offensive in a meeting with Foxconn chairman and chief executive Liu Young-way. They assured the company that the government will provide comprehensive “services” to its operations in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, home of the world’s largest iPhone factory.