People shop at an Apple store in North China's Shanxi Province on October 23 after iPhone 12 was newly launched. Photo: cnsphoto

Shenzhen-based Luxshare Precision Industry, the electronic connector manufacturer that supplies Apple, said Monday the firm has set up subsidiaries in overseas markets including India and Vietnam as part of its strategic planning.

The electronics maker made such comment on the interaction platform with investors in response to the latter's question that if the firm has any planning to tackle with increasing costs caused by the continuous appreciation of Chinese currency yuan, which has brought about a decline in global competitiveness.

In a filing sent to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in October last year, Luxshare Precision Industry said that its wholly-owned overseas subsidiary Luxshare Precision Limited or ICT-Lanto Limited planned to increase capital of Luxshare India Private Limited with no more than $92 million in cash to meet the needs of India's Luxshare plant expansion and production capacity climbing.

The Chinese firm, which has already become a key AirPods and Apple Watch assembler, has been deepening supply ties with Apple. Last year, it collaborated with iPhone assembler Pegatron on casings, via which Luxshare Precision Industry can gain critical access to iPhone assembly know-how that it has aimed for.

Foxconn, a key iPhone supplier, began manufacturing the iPhone 11 in India since July 2020. 

"It's now a self-contradictory situation within India on foreign investment. On one hand, the country want to grow the capability of independence on various industries, meanwhile it cannot due to the lack of foreign investment to boost industry and address skill shortages," said Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

India has been targeting investments from China amid border tensions. In April 2020, India adjusted its investment regulations so that proposals from entities based in bordering countries would require government approval.

Data from Venture Intelligence showed that private equity and venture capital funding from funds based in China fell sharply to $1.05 billion in 2020, a third of the level of 2019's $3.5 billion.

For the smartphone sector, it is one of the industries that India has attached much importance. The government has in some way "forced" phone manufacturers to set up factories in India in face of high taxation, Liu told the Global Times on Monday.

India has increased import tariffs over recent years on components with many factories relocating to the South Asian nation. The smartphone output of in the Indian market can not only meet India's domestic needs, but also could be exported in a large number to overseas markets, Liu noted.

Despite the contraction of India's smartphone shipments in 2020 amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic by 2 percent, Chinese vendor Xiaomi ranked No.1 position with 27 percent market share, a report from IDC showed.

Founded in 2019, Luxshare India Private Limited mainly produce sand operates connecting wires, connectors, mobile terminal antennas, computer peripheral equipment, mobile phone peripheral equipment, etc.

Global Times