Apple’s supply chain in China evolves as Foxconn hires, Compal invests in Vietnam and MacBook production relocates to Thailand

Apple’s extensive supply chain in China continues to undergo changes, as the world’s largest iPhone factory has started hiring for iPhone 15 production, a major contractor has set up a new plant in Vietnam, and some production of the MacBook is reportedly being relocated to Thailand.

Foxconn Zhengzhou, the world’s largest iPhone factory, has offered a one-time 7,500 yuan (US$1,050) bonus for workers who previously resigned to come back, as it prepares for production of new iPhone models that are expected to launch in September. For experienced workers who have had more than two stints at Foxconn, a bonus of 8,000 yuan is being offered, according to a job recruitment advertisement published by the Zhengzhou campus.

It is the highest bonus offered by the factory since production was disrupted by China’s draconian Covid-19 controls last November.

Meanwhile, there are signs that China’s dominance in the Apple supply chain continues to face competition from countries like Vietnam and India. Compal Electronics, a key manufacturer of the iPad and Apple Watch, said it secured land worth US$30 million in Vietnam to build a new plant “to expand production capacity”.

The Taiwanese firm’s Vietnamese subsidiary leased a 40-hectare plot in the Lien Ha Thai Industrial Park in Thai Binh province, Compal said in a stock exchange filing last week. Compal is already producing Apple products in Vietnam, with factories in Vinh Phuc, on top of its major production sites in China’s Chongqing and Jiangsu as well as Thailand’s Phetchaburi, according to the latest supplier list of the Cupertino, California-based firm.

Separately, China may lose production of the MacBook laptop to Thailand for the first time, Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News reported last Wednesday, citing industry sources.