Vietnam or other ASEAN states, and India could become the next manufacturing hubs of Taiwanese firms over the next one to two decades, especially after Apple Inc reportedly told its major contract manufacturers to boost capacity outside China to avert risks of production disruptions.
Apple is a key client of many Taiwanese manufacturers, which assemble iPhones, iPads, MacBook laptops and airPods in China or supply components for those gadgets. Some of Apple’s suppliers and manufacturing partners had to suspend production this month to comply with China’s “zero COVID” policy and strict restrictions to curb the spread of the virus in Shanghai.