Apple Now Looks At This South-East Asian Nation To Produce MacBooks, Diversify Base Beyond China

Apple Inc AAPL discussed producing MacBooks in Thailand with suppliers to migrate production beyond China as geopolitical tensions escalate.
Apple has also been mass producing its Apple Watch in the Southeast Asian country for more than a year, Nikkei Asia reports citing familiar sources.
The Apple suppliers involved in the talks already have manufacturing complexes in Thailand for other clients and are exploring the assembly and production of components and modules for MacBooks.
Read: Apple Goes Big On India: Triples iPhone Production In Last Fiscal, Aims 25% Production By 2025
Reportedly Apple asked the suppliers to set up facilities in Vietnam for MacBooks, following in the footsteps of other Apple suppliers. However, the suppliers offered an alternative option of building the product at their Thailand plants, which still have a massive space.
It would also be convenient to support the components from the Thailand plants once MacBook assembly begins in Vietnam first.
Reportedly, an Apple supplier is building new plants in Thailand for Apple, and a new factory for MacBooks and other products will likely be ready in 2023.
Another Apple supplier has set up a trial production line for MacBooks in Thailand but is also looking for a plot of land in Vietnam as a backup plan.
Apple plans to mass-produce MacBooks in Vietnam in the first half of this year.
In recent years, Apple has gradually migrated production capacity for AirPods, the Apple Watch, iPads, and MacBooks to northern Vietnam. The number of Apple suppliers in the country increased to 25 in 2021 from 14 in 2018, when geopolitical tensions started escalating.
However, the suppliers had to combat labor shortages and rising labor costs.
Price Action: AAPL shares traded higher by 0.78% at $161.35 premarket on the last check Thursday.

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