Apple has embarked on massive investments in India, the world's most populous country with high economic growth potential. However, the protectionist mindset rooted in the South Asian country may pose a risk for Apple in the long term.
Apple CEO inaugurated retail stores in India, eyeing India's huge and rapidly-increasing market. Foxconn acquired land in Telangana to expand its Indian investments.
In a race to be among the leaders in the quantum era, India launched the National Quantum Mission, aiming to build R&D hubs to benefit areas including communication, health, finance, and energy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made his first visit to India in seven years and met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as the world's largest company is looking to make India an iPhone production base.
Vedanta, the front-runner among applicants for India's INR760 billion (US$92 billion) semiconductor and display fabs incentive scheme, is looking to begin chipmaking in 2027 and may establish an OSAT plant as well as a wafer fab.
As Tata is looking to build its OSAT business and precision electronics manufacturing amid India's aspiration to build a self-reliant semiconductor ecosystem, the Indian conglomerate has hired Randhir Thakur, former head of Intel Foundry Services, to lead its newly-established semiconductors business.
Apple launched its first retail store in India, marking the beginning of an era when Apple is shifting more focus from Greater China to India, where Apple sees hope in the rising middle class and an emerging electronics manufacturing ecosystem.
Compared to other industry sectors, IC design has been more impacted by low birth rates and a lack of local IT manpower. In India, there are 56,000 IC design engineers; in the US, there are 86,000; in China, there are 121,000; and in Taiwan there are 47,000. In fact, India doesn't really have an IC design industry of its own. All IC design engineers work for foreign companies in one way or another. Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, MediaTek, and Toshiba all run big R&D teams in India. Local semiconductor firms, such as MindTree, don't design products they sell directly to the market; rather they outsource service partners working for foreign companies.
Even though there seems to be quite a delay in India's semiconductor manufacturing plans, local experts insist on its necessity for economic growth, technological development, and strategic autonomy. India is one of the largest consumers of semiconductors in the world, with applications ranging from smartphones and computers to automobiles and defense.
A WTO panel ruled that India's decision to impose import customs duty on communication products, including mobile phones, violated its obligation under the global trading system in a dispute with the EU, Japan, and Taiwan.
India-based resources conglomerate Vedanta, looking to build India's first display manufacturing plant, has got South Korean suppliers on board after obtaining support from Japanese and Taiwanese companies.
As India is waiting for the first two Apple Stores to be opened in India this week, it is estimated that Apple has become India's largest mobile phone exporter in India.
As iPhone production and exports surged over the past year, Taiwan-based iPhone manufacturers operating in India quickly requested reimbursement after meeting the incentive targets.
China-based Vivo has begun a fresh round of investments in India and looking to build the South Asian country into one of its regional production hubs amid regulatory pressures from Indian authorities over the past year.
