Google is planning to assemble Pixel devices in India as they move their production facilities out of China

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FP StaffSep 12, 2022 19:47:03 IST

Google has started looking for manufacturing partners in India and is currently soliciting bids from various manufacturers and suppliers in the country as it prepares to move a bulk of its production outside China.

Last week, we reported that Google was planning to move a major chunk of its production of the upcoming Pixel 7 series outside China. Initially, Google had planned to move about 25-30 per cent of the production to Vietnam. The following year, they planned to move about 50 per cent of their manufacturing facilities outside China.

Writing for The Information, Wayne Ma reports that Google is currently soliciting bids from manufacturers in India, to assemble about 5,00,000 to 10,00,000 Pixel 7 series devices which will account for about 10-20 per cent of the estimated annual production for the device.

Several tech manufacturers, especially those based out of the United States have come up with strategies to reduce their manufacturing dependency on China. Apple was one of the first tech companies who had decided to move its production facilities away from China.

Earlier this year, Apple had planned to shift a portion of the production of the iPhone 14 series to India, two months after it would be launched. Earlier this month, Apple decided to prepone shifting their production facilities to India, by at least two weeks.

Although tech companies like Google and Apple are looking for production facilities outside China, mainly because of the arbitrary and harsh COVID lockdowns imposed by the Chinese Communist Party or CCP, several other factors are also in play.

First, there is the escalating geo-political tension between Taiwan and China. Taiwan supplies most of the world’s semiconductors, as well as a number of other important components. Reports have claimed that Chinese authorities are creating issues in logistics and other aspects of the supply chain by blocking Taiwanese shipments from being unloaded onto mainland China’s docks

Another reason why tech companies, especially American tech companies are reevaluating their relationship with China is the growing tensions between China and USA. The ongoing tariff war between China and the US, has been cited as one of the reasons why Google has decided to move their production facilities out of the country.

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