- General
- May 28, 2019
- 5 minutes read
Pegatron To Invest Up To $1 Billion In iPhone Chip Factory
A worker at Corning, an Apple manufacturing partner that creates cover glass for its devices image: Apple Taiwanese electronics manufacturer…
 |
| A worker at Corning, an Apple manufacturing partner that creates cover glass for its devices
image: Apple
|
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Pegatron has announced it intends to invest 10-15 trillion rupiah ($695 million to $1 billion) in a factory in Indonesia that’ll assemble “chips for Apple smartphones”, Reuters reports. The company made this known in a signed letter of intent as announced by Indonesia’s deputy industry minister on Tuesday.
Pegatron plans to assemble the phone chips in partnership with Indonesia’s PT Sat Nusapersada, a top electronics manufacturer in the country. Production will be done at a factory on the island of Batam. The chips would be assembled on site with imported raw components.
 |
| An employee at Apple manufacturing partner Finisar prepares to begin work
image: Apple
|
Such move from Pegatron could be the result of a biting trade war between the U.S. and China. Pegatron was previously reported to be moving production of MacBooks and iPads to Indonesia in partnership with the same company involved in this effort. “The factory might also be used to produce MacBook components as well, but it would not be in the short term,” Indonesia’s Deputy Minister Warsito Ignatius told Reuters, kind of corroborating with the report.
Pegatron also recently confirmed that it planned to invest $300 million in an Indonesian factory — in partnership with Sat Nusapersada — to produce smart home devices. Reports suggest that Indonesia was chosen over Vietnam thanks to a better local supply of workers. This current move by Pegatron stands out given that the company has not traditionally assembled chips for smartphones.
