Why Apple is moving production from China to other Asian countries

For many years, China has been perceived as the so-called factory of the world. Thanks to the cheap labor force, a large number of various factories are concentrated here, and the vast majority of goods are thus produced. Of course, the technological giants are not an exception in this, on the contrary. For example, although Apple likes to portray itself as a pure American company from sunny California, it is necessary to mention that the production of components and the resulting assembly of the device takes place in China. Hence the iconic designation "Designed by Apple in California, Made in China".

In recent years, however, Apple has begun to slightly distance itself from China and instead moves production to other Asian countries. Today, therefore, we can come across a number of devices that carry a message instead of the mentioned label "Made in Vietnam."” or "Made in India". It is India, currently the second most populous country in the world (right after China). But it's not just Apple. Other companies are also slowly "running away" from China and are instead trying to use other favorable countries.

China as an unattractive environment

Naturally, therefore, a relatively important question arises. Why is (not only) Apple moving production elsewhere and more or less beginning to distance itself from China? This is exactly what we are going to shed light on together now. There are several valid reasons, and the arrival of the global covid-19 pandemic has shown how risky this area can be. First of all, let's mention the long-standing problems that accompany production in China even before the pandemic. China as such is not exactly the most pleasant environment. In general, there is a lot of talk about theft of intellectual property (especially in the field of technology), cyber attacks, various restrictions from the Chinese Communist government and many others. These important factors paint the People's Republic of China as an unattractive environment full of unnecessary obstacles that are offset by cheap labor.

Tim Cook visiting the Foxconn factory

Tim Cook Foxconn fb

Foxconn

Foxconn

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However, as we indicated above, the definitive turning point came with the onset of the global pandemic. In light of current events, China is well known for its zero-tolerance policy, which has resulted in massive lockdowns of entire neighborhoods, blocks, or factories themselves. With this step, there was an even more significant limitation of the rights of the inhabitants there and there was a very fundamental limitation of production. This had a negative impact on Apple's supply chain, which had to go through not-so-simple situations at several points. To put it very simply, everything began to fall like dominoes, which further threatened companies manufacturing their products in China. That is why it is time to move production elsewhere, where labor will still be cheap, but these described difficulties will not appear.

India therefore offered itself as an ideal candidate. Although it also has its faults and the technological giants encounter problems arising from cultural differences, it is still a step in the right direction in a way that can help ensure stability and security.