Apple is ramping up the production of iPhones, iPads, Macs and other products outside China, Nikkei Asia has learned, in a sign that the tech giant is continuing to accelerate its production diversification despite hopes that US-China tensions will ease under President Joe Biden.
Sources said iPad production would begin in Vietnam as early as the middle of this year, marking the first time that the world’s biggest tablet maker will build a significant number of the devices outside China. The Californian company was also stepping up iPhone production in India, its second-largest production base for the iconic device, sources added, with plans for it to start producing the latest iPhone 12 series — the company’s first 5G smartphones — as soon as this quarter.
Apple was also increasing production capacity for smart speakers, earphones and computers in south-east Asia as part of its ongoing diversification strategy, the sources added.
In Vietnam, Apple is mobilising suppliers to expand production capacity for the latest HomePod mini, the affordable version of its voice-activated smart speaker line-up. The device has been produced in Vietnam since it was launched last year. Apple had increased local production of its audio-related products, including its various AirPods line-ups, sources said.
Apple had relocated some production of the Mac mini, one of its desktop computers, to Malaysia, another person familiar with the matter told Nikkei, and was set to move part of its MacBook production to Vietnam this year. Most of its computer production remains in China.
“Apple and many other tech companies all want out-of-China production capacities, and that has not slowed even though the US has a new president,” one supply chain manager said.
“And they are studying not only peripheral products. Apple, for example, aims to build capacity in new locations — mostly south-east Asia nations — for multiple core products, such as iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, AirPods and others. It was hard to imagine that two years ago, but now, nothing is impossible to shift.”
Apple suppliers have been working to meet their client’s desire for more diverse production bases. Foxconn, which formally traded as Hon Hai Precision Industry, injected $270m to set up a subsidiary in Vietnam late last year as part of the Taiwanese company’s efforts to expand its production capacity in the country. Luxshare Precision Industry, a new iPhone assembler and a key supplier of AirPods, is ramping up its capacity in northern Vietnam for the HomePod mini to solve supply constraints for the popular device, Nikkei learned.
Apple’s moves are part of a larger trend of global tech giants reducing their production dependence on China, long known as the world’s factory. Rising labour costs, the prolonged trade tensions between Washington and Beijing and the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that severely disrupted the supply chain have all driven home the risks of depending too heavily on one country. The US government, moreover, has initiated a “supply chain restructuring” campaign and urged tech suppliers to move away from China, the Nikkei reported earlier.
China, which boasts the world’s most sophisticated and comprehensive supply chain, remains a key manufacturing hub for major tech companies, but Apple’s decision to move such a wide range of products out of the country indicates that the tech decoupling of the two countries is likely to continue into 2021.
And while there are some hopes that the political climate will improve under the new US president, Mr Biden has said he will not immediately reverse the tariff policy that the Trump administration implemented against China in mid-2018 — a policy that eventually saw tariffs levied on $360bn worth of Chinese imports.
China’s Goertek, a key Apple AirPods assembler, asked all of its suppliers to evaluate the feasibility of moving production to Vietnam as early as late 2018, and was the first Apple supplier to confirm a plan to shift production. In 2019, Apple asked multiple suppliers to study the cost implications of moving around 15 to 30 per cent of production out of China for a wide range of product lines. Its AirPods series, which ship around 90m units a year, first went into trial production in Vietnam in the summer of 2019, with mass production following in 2020. A portion of production of AirPods Pro, AirPods Max and the HomePod mini were also allocated to Vietnam last year. Apple began making the iPhone 11 in India in 2020.
Apple did not respond to Nikkei’s request for comment.
A version of this article was first published by Nikkei Asia on January 27, 2021. ©2021 Nikkei Inc. All rights reserved.
‘Ms. Picard does sincerely recognize what has happened here,’ the judge said of her willingness to complete community service
Published Apr 24, 2024 • 2 minute read
Leaving her elderly father on a basement floor for two days in a soiled adult diaper won’t mean jail for a Calgary woman.
Justice Indra Maharaj accepted a joint Crown and defence submission on Wednesday for a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence order for Tara Picard to be followed by 12 months of probation.
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Prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence counsel Shaun Leochko proposed a community-based term which will include eight months of 24-hour house arrest followed by a nightly curfew for the second eight months.
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Maharaj also agreed with the lawyers to order Picard to commit 300 hours of community service over the length of the three-year sentence.
The Calgary Court of Justice noted that amount of community-service hours was “a lot” to commit to.
But Maharaj said it showed Picard, 52, was truly remorseful for her conduct towards her father, whom Postmedia is not identifying because of the embarrassing nature of the facts of the case.
“What that shows me is Ms. Picard does sincerely recognize what has happened here,” the judge said of her willingness to complete community service.
“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to the community.”
Picard pleaded guilty in January to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life to her 77-year-old father.
Court heard caregivers found the elderly Calgary man on the basement floor of his daughter’s southeast home wearing a soiled adult diaper.
At the time, Picard was responsible for her father’s day-to-day care after he was moved to her residence, Spaner, reading from a statement of agreed facts, told court at the time.
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“He had a number of medical ailments, including non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary artery disease, some early onset dementia-like symptoms and chronic alcoholism,” Spaner said.
“(He) had been living independently in a Calgary apartment building. Family members became concerned that he was not caring for himself safely.”
With the help of Alberta Health Services he was moved to a home where Picard resided.
A registered nurse assigned to his care attended the 38 Street S.E. home on Nov. 15, 2021, to drop off food bank supplies for him and was told he was sleeping downstairs.
When the nurse called about an hour and a half later and spoke to the man on the phone he said he was lying on the floor, had fallen and was unable to get up.
When she returned to the home with a co-worker she found the victim lying on his back on the floor.
“(He) said that he had been lying on the floor for two days,” Spaner said.
Leochko said Picard was overwhelmed by the situation she was thrust into.
“It really was more than she could handle,” he said.
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@juanhall: I gotta say, this was the most interesting bike in this post….love that Intense is experimenting with gearboxes…I can see it have a huge effect on DH bikes….thank god there’s still people pushing things. Now, they need to make an Enduro bike with the Pinion MGU!
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The City of Pointe-Claire would like to inform you that the Bob-Birnie arena will be closed for its annual maintenance as of Monday, April 29. The Annex rink will reopen to the public on Monday, May 13, and the arena’s Main rink will be accessible as of Monday, June 3.
Public skating will resume on May 13, and the summer public activities programming will begin on June 3 when both rinks have reopened to the public.
In addition to the annual maintenance of the facility, two renovation projects are also scheduled to start at the same time:
Installation of new sound systems
The City will be replacing its current sound systems in both the Main rink and Annex rink, to offer arena visitors a better overall experience, whether watching from the stands or participating in on-ice activities. This project is expected to be conducted throughout the month of May.
Renovation of locker rooms in the Main Rink
The City will also be renovating the five locker rooms located in the Main rink, to bring up to date the amenities currently available to participants. These renovations are expected to begin in early May and will be completed by mid-August.
For all information about the Bob-Birnie arena, visit the arena’s page on our website.
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