Taipei: In a first such move, Apple reportedly plans to shift some iPad production out of China to Vietnam amid Covid lockdowns in and around Shanghai, a media outlet reported on Wednesday.
According to a report from Nikkei Asia, the iPhone maker has asked several component suppliers to stockpile to deal with future shortages and supply chain issues.
“The iPad will become the second major line of Apple products manufactured in the Southeast Asian country, after the AirPods series of headphones,” the report said.
Apple shipped 58 million iPads last year.
China’s BYD, a leading iPad assembler, has helped Apple build production lines in Vietnam.
According to the report, it “could soon begin producing a small number of iconic tablets there.”
The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant also asked vendors to move quickly to secure the supply of certain chips for upcoming iPhones.
“The requests apply to all of Apple’s product lines – iPhones, iPads, AirPods and MacBooks,” the report said, citing sources.
Apple has yet to comment on the report.
Shanghai on Wednesday began reopening the city and restoring the normal order of production and life, on the premise of containing the overall risk of Covid-19.
According to reports, Shanghai has ended its two-month citywide lockdown, cautiously giving free rein to 2.67 million businesses to resume operations.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said on the company’s latest earnings call that “we estimated the strains to be between $4 billion and $8 billion and that strains are primarily centered around the Shanghai Corridor.” .
“Covid-related disruptions are also impacting customer demand in China,” added Apple CFO Luca Maestri.
More than half of Apple’s top 200 suppliers have facilities in Shanghai and surrounding areas. In Shanghai, 31 companies operate production facilities that supply Apple.
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