Apple to start MacBook production in Vietnam next year

Apple has tapped its top supplier, Taiwan’s Foxconn, to start making the laptops in Vietnam as early as around May, sources told Nikkei Asia.

“After the MacBook production shifts, all of Apple’s flagship products basically will have one more production location beyond China … iPhones in India and MacBooks, the Apple Watch and iPads in Vietnam,” one person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

“What Apple wants now is an ‘out of China’ option for at least part of production for all of its products.”

The company has been working on plans to move some MacBook manufacturing to Vietnam for nearly two years, and has set up a test production line in the country, the Japanese news outlet reported earlier.

Vietnam will make 65% of Apple wireless AirPods by 2025 as the U.S. tech giant continues to shift its production away from China, JP Morgan analysts have forecast.

The country would also reportedly account for 20% of iPad and Apple Watch output and 5% of MacBook.

Foxconn, a key supplier, in August leased 50.5 hectares of land in Bac Giang Province and plans to build a $300-million factory there, employing 30,000 workers.

Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing markets for Apple products this year, with especially high demand for iPhones.