Apple supplier Foxconn given the OK to build a new $270 million plant in Vietnam

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Tim Cook at Foxconn
Tim Cook at Foxconn (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Foxconn has been given a license that will allow it to build a new $270 million plant in Vietnam.
  • The plant will build 8 million laptops and tablets per year.

Apple supplier Foxconn has been granted a license to build a new $270 million plant in Vietnam, according to a new report. The plant will be capable of producing as many as eight million tablets and laptops, says Reuters.

Set to be built by Fukang Technology, the new plant is part of an ongoing $1.5 billion investment by Foxconn in Vietnamese plants as it seeks to diversify its portfolio at the behest of Apple. It's thought that the new plant will be producing MacBooks and iPad for Apple once it opens.

Foxconn is moving some iPad and MacBook assembly to Vietnam from China at the request of Apple Inc, a person with knowledge of the plan said in November, as the U.S. firm diversifies production to minimise the impact of Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

Foxconn's presence in Vietnam is good for the local economy, with a reported 10,000 jobs set to benefit local workers this year. This latest plant will be built in the northern province of Bac Giang, according to the report. The company is also said to be considering "investing $1.3 billion in Thanh Hoa province, 160 km (99.42 miles) south of Hanoi."

Apple is already expected to refresh a number of its MacBook and iPad lineups this year and beyond, although it isn't yet clear where they will be built.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.