Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple to Shift Some Top-Tier Production Out of China

25 APRIL 2022 - It would be difficult to say that China has been more trouble for Apple than it’s been worth. However, with countless allegations of human rights abuses, political tensions with the U.S., and China continually flipping the switch on the supply chain, Apple may finally be ready to move some of its eggs to other baskets. Which eggs and where we do not know, though indication from TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is that first version, top tier products from Apple hay eventually come first from outside the Middle Kingdom. 

Last Tuesday, Young MC hit with a couple of telling Tweets. According to the first:

Apple's new product introduction (NPI) sites are almost [all] in China. It was the first time for Apple to evaluate building NPI sites in non-China seriously when the COVID-19 outbreak first occurred about two years ago, but internally it only proceeded to the proposal stage.

“However,” begins the second Tweet:

…after the recent lockdowns in China, to diversify supply chain management risks, building NPI sites in non-China is no longer a proposal but an action plan.

Which eggs and where we do not know.