The Foxconn Technology group has asked hundreds of Chinese engineers and technicians to return home from its iPhone factories in India, dealing a blow to Apple Inc’s manufacturing push in the South Asian country, Bloomberg has reported.
The bulk of Foxconn’s Chinese staff at iPhone plants in southern India have been told to fly back in a move that began about two months ago, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the information is private.
According to Bloomberg, more than 300 Chinese workers have left, and mostly support staff from Taiwan remain in India, one of the people said.
It’s not immediately clear why Apple’s biggest iPhone assembler sent the workers home. Earlier this year, officials in Beijing verbally encouraged regulatory agencies and local governments to curb technology transfers and equipment exports to India and Southeast Asia in what is a potential attempt to prevent companies from shifting manufacturing elsewhere, Bloomberg News has reported.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has lauded the skill and expertise of Chinese assembly workers, highlighting it as the key reason for setting up the majority of Apple’s production in the country. Their removal from India will slow down the training of local workforce as well as the transfer of technology from China, likely raising production costs, the people said.