Apple supplier Jabil Inc. has started producing parts for AirPods in India, marking a major step forward in the U.S. tech giant’s plans to expand production in the country.
Jabil’s Indian subsidiary has already started shipping its AirPods cases (plastic housings) to China and Vietnam, which are still the main assembly sites for the headphones, people familiar with the matter said. But at this rate, the assembly of the AirPods will expand to India and Southeast Asia as well.
In fact, as early as October of last year, it was announced that Apple was in talks with suppliers to move some of the production of AirPods and Beats headphones to India, with production starting as early as 2023.
As we all know, AirPods were one of the first products in Apple’s product line to be produced outside of mainland China, with Lixin Precision moving production of AirPods to Vietnam as early as 2019 and most production of Beats already moving to Vietnam.
Jabil Group is an American electronics company headquartered in Florida, USA, with more than 100 plants and 200,000 employees worldwide, whose main businesses include acoustics, optics, precision injection molds, additive manufacturing, printed electronics, sensors, adhesives, advanced assembly, automation, equipment integration and other fields.
