© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An Apple MacBook Pro keyboard and applications are displayed at the Apple retail store in San Francisco, California, U.S., July 21, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo
(Reuters) – Apple Inc is in talks with suppliers to make MacBooks in Thailand as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to expand its manufacturing presence beyond China, it said on Thursday.
The vendors participating in these talks have existing manufacturing complexes in Thailand for other customers and are discussing the possible assembly and production of components and modules for MacBooks, sources at three vendors involved in talks with Apple (NASDAQ:) told the Nikkei.
Apple has also been mass-producing its Apple Watch in Thailand for more than a year, the report added.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately determine the three vendors cited in the report.
Apple and its key suppliers have been moving production away from China, where strict COVID-19 restrictions disrupted Foxconn’s largest iPhone factory last year.
Apple is also looking to avoid a hit to its business due to tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported Thursday that Apple has tripled its production of iPhones in India, assembling more than $7 billion worth of smartphones in the country in the last fiscal year.
The tech giant now makes almost 7% of its iPhones in India, up from 1% in 2021, according to the report.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on production in India.
In March, Foxconn announced plans to increase investment outside of China. Meanwhile, Pegatron Corp is in talks to set up a second factory in India as part of its efforts to diversify production out of China, Reuters reported.