A day after news emerged that Foxconn Technology Group was “forced” by Beijing to send back its Chinese engineers and technicians from its Tamil Nadu plant, sources indicate that the global electronics giant has already drawn up an alternative plan to rescue its India iPhone 17 production by bringing in experts from mainly Taiwan and the US.

Photograoh: Ann Wang/Reuters

The move to call back employees is seen as a strategy to disrupt the efforts by Western tech firms to shift manufacturing away from China.

It is also seen as a continuation of the diplomatic tussle between India and China.

Chinese authorities were already restricting the export of key machines that are required to be retrofitted on the assembly lines to make the iPhone 17, which is expected to be unveiled by September this year.

“They already have a plan to bring engineers mainly from Taiwan and the US, as was expected.

“Also, the issue is only regarding the new iPhone 17 lineup and its planned launch.

“Indian technicians are already in charge of previous models.

“It may take a maximum of two months to replace the Chinese experts,” said a state source aware of the development.

Both Foxconn and Apple did not respond to questions from Business Standard.

Sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) said that both Apple and Foxconn were, for the last four-to-five months, aware of the possibility of losing Chinese engineers.

Even if technicians are replaced, the import of key equipment may still be a concern.

This may also increase prices of the iPhone 17.

However, Taiwan and US experts may increase the company’s production cost, as the average payment for a US expert will be around six-fold, and that of a Taiwanese expert will be around 50-60 per cent higher compared to a Chinese engineer, say industry experts.

According to a government source, the current issue is only regarding Foxconn, as Tata Electronics, another manufacturer of the iPhone, has engineers from Taiwan and other countries, not China.

A South India-based source aware of the development said that technology is not an issue as majority of it belongs to Apple and Foxconn only.

“Foxconn has also started deploying people from its other units outside China on a need basis.

“We are in constant touch with them on this issue,” the source said.

The move by China is in line with its intent to stop or slow down the supply of manpower and raw materials originating from its territory.

“They (China) have also restricted the supplies of capital goods to several countries, including India.

“That is likely to have some impact on the production cycles of companies such as Foxconn.

“The company must be looking at alternatives by now,” an industry executive said.

Currently, iPhone assembly in India is primarily handled by Foxconn and Tata Electronics.

Foxconn operates a large facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

It also has plans to assemble iPhones from Devanahalli in Karnataka.

On the other hand, Tata has a Karnataka unit taken over from Pegatron, and also has a facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

The company is also expanding its component ecosystem by bringing in firms like Sunwoda, Foxlink, and Aequs.

At present, Foxconn has around 40,000 employees in South India, and is expected to hire 1,000 more in July.