Manzana it remains firm in its plan to cut its dependence on China, and has already defined the next stage. As reported Nikkei Asiathose of Cupertino they will start manufacturing MacBooks in Vietnam from 2023. A notorious fact, considering that until now the production of its laptops has been carried out exclusively in Chinese territory.
Of course, Apple will not take the entire production line of its MacBooks out of China. Much less, overnight. The aforementioned media indicates that the Californian firm wants Foxconn to begin the assembly process at its Vietnamese facilities from May next yearas the earliest date.
In any case, Apple has been working on the possibility of producing MacBooks in Vietnam for at least two years. At the end of 2020, the first reports appeared that spoke of this option, considering the intensification of the trade war between the United States and China.
However, what causes the most concern for those on the block is how the sanitary blockades due to the continuing outbreaks of coronavirus have affected its production line in China. Something that in recent months has been in the news due to the problems in the manufacture of the iPhone 14, but that has also affected the rest of its products.
Apple will manufacture MacBooks in Vietnam as part of its diversification process
Once Apple starts manufacturing MacBooks in Vietnam, none of its core products will be tied exclusively to China. The iPhone is also made in India and Brazil; AirPods in Vietnam, where production lines for the iPad and Apple Watch have also been set up.
Of course, the Chinese plants of Foxconn and other Apple suppliers will continue to handle the largest volume of manufacturing of their devices. After all, China is responsible for the assembly of more than 90% of the products that bear the apple logo. And the percentage is even higher in cases like the iPhone, since 98% of the units come from the Asian giant.
It is also not known, so far, how many MacBooks those of Cupertino aim to produce in Vietnam. Initially it was said that the company’s idea was to get approximately 30% of its production lines out of China, but it is not known if this is still the objective.
Nikkei Asia ensures that today Apple produces between 20 and 24 million MacBooks a year. The Californian firm’s computer division —which also includes the Mac Mini, the iMac, the Mac Studio, and which awaits the long-awaited renewal of the Mac Pro— was the big star of the last fiscal quarter.
According to Apple, the sale of Macs grew 25% year-on-year during the third quarter of 2022 – the fiscal Q4 for those of the apple. However, the company opened the umbrella and assured that it expected that the income of said division decreased “substantially” in the immediate future. It remains to be seen if this is evidenced in the financial results of the first fiscal quarter 2023.
The truth is that MacBooks are not the only ones whose production line Apple intends to relocate. As for components, the story is similar. Recently, it was learned that TSMC will begin to provide those from Cupertino with chips made in Arizona, United States. Something that also aims to reduce its dependence on semiconductors manufactured in Asia, either in China or in Taiwan. However, the first results they will be seen only in 2024.