Foxconn said in a statement on Saturday that no deals were finalized during chairman and CEO Young Liu’s February 27-March 4 visit to India.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology conglomerate, confirmed on Saturday that its chairman had visited India, but denied having “entered into any binding, definitive agreements” following reports that it was planning new investments in the country.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and the primary assembler of Apple iPhones.
Both companies are looking to diversify away from China, where much of their manufacturing is based after strict Covid policies and ongoing diplomatic tensions with the US hampered production last year.
Foxconn said in a statement on Saturday that no deals were finalized during chairman and CEO Young Liu’s February 27-March 4 visit to India.
“During this trip, Foxconn has not entered into binding, definitive agreements for new investments,” the statement said.
“Negotiations and an internal review are currently underway. Financial investment sums discussed in the media are not disclosed by Foxconn.”
The statement comes after the chief minister of Karnataka state, Basavaraj S. Bommai, tweeted on Friday that Apple would “soon” manufacture iPhones at a new plant in the state, creating “about 100,000 jobs”.
According to Bloomberg News, Foxconn plans to invest $700 million in a new factory in Karnataka, citing unnamed sources.
He also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week, and the pair’s “discussions covered various topics aimed at enhancing India’s tech and innovation eco-system,” according to a tweet on Wednesday.
Since 2019, Foxconn has been producing Apple handsets in India at its plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Wistron and Pegatron, two other Taiwanese suppliers, also manufacture and assemble Apple devices in India.
Apple announced in September that it would manufacture the iPhone 14 in India, just weeks after the flagship model was released.
However, according to Bloomberg, the country accounts for less than 5% of Apple’s global production, trailing the US, China, Japan, and five other countries.
Apple’s expansion of manufacturing in India is a boon to Modi’s “Make in India” strategy, under which he has urged foreign companies to manufacture goods in the South Asian country.
