Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, has been studying the possibility of moving iPhone production to the U.S., according to Japanese website Nikkei Asian Review.
“Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, the two iPhone assemblers, in June to look into making iPhones in the U.S.,” the article says, quoting an unnamed source said. “Foxconn complied, while Pegatron declined to formulate such a plan due to cost concerns.”
Another source said that while Foxconn had been working on the request from Apple, its biggest customer that accounts for more than 50% of its sales, Chairman Terry Gou had been less enthusiastic due to an inevitable rise in production costs.
“Making iPhones in the U.S. means the cost will more than double,” the source said.
Foxconn’s second most powerful executive, Sharp President Tai Jeng-Wu, talked about making parts in the United States during a recent public speech.
“We are now building a new [OLED] facility in Japan. We can make [OLED panels, a kind of screen] in the US too,” he said. “If our key customer demands us to manufacture in the US, is it possible for us not to do so?”
One key reason Apple might be considering a made-in-America iPhone is because President-elect Donald Trump has publicly called for the company to build its product in the US, and threatened tariffs on imports from China.
“I’m going to get Apple to start making their computers and their iPhones on our land, not in China,” Trump said during a rally in March. “How does it help us when they make it in China?”
