The China-based maker of Apple’s AirPods is reportedly facing pressure from US tech companies to find new manufacturing locations outside the country amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.
A top executive at GoerTek, which lost its contract to make AirPods Pro but is still producing the regular AirPods, said he has been hounded recently with just one question from US companies.
“When can you move out?” GoerTek Deputy Chairman Kazuyoshi Yoshinaga told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
GoerTek has invested $280 million in a new factory in Vietnam while considering an expansion into India, added Yoshinaga, who supervises operations at the company’s headquarters in Hanoi.
“Starting from last month, so many people from the client side are visiting us almost every day,” Yoshinaga told Bloomberg.
The US clients are looking to diversify supply away from China amid a growing divide between two of the world’s largest economies.
The recent flareup over a suspected China spy balloon that drifted over US airspace has only added to national security fears.
Apple has kept its plans to diversify out of China under wraps, partially because of the tech giant’s insistence on secrecy across its global supply chain.
Last year, Apple’s production of iPhones was severely hampered after protests broke out over COVID lockdowns at its main factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
GoerTek is not the only Apple supplier looking for an exit.
Behind the scenes, nine out of 10 of Apple’s most important suppliers might be preparing large-scale capacity moves to countries like India, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates it could take eight years to move just 10% of Apple’s capacity outside of China.
Most Chinese tech manufacturers are experiencing the same pressure as GoerTek.
“I would say currently 90% of them, they’re looking at that,” the GoerTek executive said.
“It’s the brand companies’ decisions.”