Report: Pegatron is the latest Apple partner to look beyond China

Pegatron
Pegatron (Image credit: Reuters)

What you need to know

  • Pegatron currently assembles iPhones.
  • The company is reportedly looking into setting up facilities in Vietnam.
  • Other companies are also looking to set up shop outside China.

Pegatron currently assembles iPhones for Apple, and it does so in China. But according to a new report the company has plans to open a new production facility in Vietnam. That would mean the company joining other Apple partners in diversifying its manufacturing capabilities beyond China.

While there's no suggestion in the Bloomberg report that the new location would be used to manufacture iPhones, it does show companies continue to look beyond China for their manufacturing needs. And should Apple want iPhones to be made in Vietnam Pegasus will surely want to already have the facility needed ahead of time.

Taipei-listed Pegatron is looking for a site to build a brand new facility in the north of the country, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private plans. It already has rented a separate facility in the northern city of Haiphong, they said. Pegatron will make styluses for Samsung Electronics Co.'s smartphones there, one of the people said.

Pegatron isn't the only iPhone manufacturing partner setting up facilities in Vietnam, with Wistron and Hon Hai Precision already making moves. And AirPods are already made there thanks to GoerTek.

Pegatron joins Apple's two other iPhone assemblers -- Wistron Corp. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. -- in developing manufacturing facilities or building extra capacity in Vietnam. None of the three are making iPhones in Vietnam and have no imminent plans to do so. The only Apple device Pegatron makes is iPhones. GoerTek Inc. is now making AirPods in the country, while two other Apple assembly partners, Compal Electronics Inc. and Luxshare Precision Industry Co., also have a presence in Vietnam.

The trade war between the United States and China may be easing, but it's caused great unrest for companies who – like Apple – rely on China for manufacturing. Moves like these by Pegatron should ease that moving forward.

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.