At present, the Sino-US trade war and science and technology war are escalating. The United States has taken a multi-pronged approach to try to keep China's science and technology industry outside the global industrial chain, avoid its upgrading and development, and maintain its hegemony. Huawei's mobile phone market share plummeted, and Apple became the single biggest winner. In 2019, when Huawei rose strongly, Apple's mobile phone market share was only 8%. By the first quarter of 2023, Apple's market share soared to 20%, and most of the profits of China's mobile phone market were snatched up by Apple! Despite Apple's lucrative profits, Cook's heart was endlessly confused. By this time, the clarion call for China to counter sanctions had been sounded, and Micron had been banned from sale due to security concerns. Then the next one affected is most likely Apple. If China's supply chain is required to ban supplies to Apple, Apple products will face the danger of being banned in the Chinese market, and this sanction could collapse the $2.79 trillion technology empire in an instant.
For the transfer of the industrial chain, Cook has been secretive in previous years, but now he has completely got rid of pretentiousness. At the end of March this year, Cook just made a visit to China, saying that he is optimistic about the Chinese market and continues to invest in the Chinese market. The escalating Sino-US technology war quickly turned the tide after Cook returned to the United States. Apple's decision to significantly expand its manufacturing operations in India is obvious. According to news from Apple's supply chain, Apple's Indian suppliers are already mass-producing iPhone 15 shell accessories. Apple plans to assemble and produce some color iPhone 15 in India in 2023, and the production capacity will reach 20 million units in 2024!
In order to open up the Indian market, Apple CEO Cook personally visited India in May and met with Indian Prime Minister Modi, and the signal was very clear, that is, to continue to increase India's weight and build it into a second "Chinese market".
Foxconn built a factory in India, and all domestic production capacity of 300 billion yuan was transferred, paving the way for Apple's layout in the Indian market. In the process of Apple's layout of the Indian market, the list of suppliers has changed a lot.
According to the supplier list released by Apple for fiscal year 2022, a total of 13 manufacturers in Chinese mainland and Taiwan have been removed, including Cathay Daming Holdings, Tianma Microelectronics and Inventec.
Last year, Apple worked with 3 Indian suppliers, and now there are 14 Indian suppliers. Although Chinese manufacturers still account for the majority of Apple's global suppliers, their number has been declining year by year, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to enter Apple's supply chain.
In India, on the other hand, Apple's supply chain status is gradually rising, and India's Tata Group will become the first manufacturer to manufacture iPhones for Apple. This means that India has begun to enter Apple's most important core industrial chain, and is expected to have the ability to replace Chinese manufacturers in the future.
After emptying 300 billion production capacity, Apple kicked out 13 Chinese manufacturers. If this trend is followed, will more Chinese manufacturers be terminated by Apple in the future? No one can predict.
What is certain is that Made in India is growing rapidly on Apple orders. Due to India's rapid population growth, young labor is abundant and cheap, which is very attractive to Apple.
Many people don't think we need to worry too much — Chinese mainland still has 49 of Apple's 186 suppliers, accounting for 26%, and remains one of Apple's most important sources of suppliers. However, a heart-wrenching fact is that Apple's high-tech, high-value-added core components are almost entirely supplied by the United States, Japan, and South Korea. South Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG, SK Hynix, etc. provide screens, memory, flash memory, Japanese companies Sony and Kioxia supply camera CMOS and DRAM, American companies Qualcomm, Broadcom, Micron, etc. provide baseband and DRAM, and Taiwan's TSMC manufactures A series chips for Apple.
Chinese mainland of these 49 suppliers, there is almost no chip manufacturer, and almost all companies supply non-technical, low-value-added accessories, such as cables, panel glass and housings. Therefore, once India establishes a complete supporting industrial chain with the support of Apple and Foxconn, I am afraid that these 49 mainland suppliers will soon be replaced!
For these 49 mainland suppliers, we must bear in mind the warning of CCTV, find ways to completely get rid of "apple dependence", and be ready to be cut off by Apple at any time to avoid being involved in OFILM's fate!