Apple has begun manufacturing AirPods at Foxconn’s new facility in Hyderabad for export, while its upcoming iPhone production unit in Bengaluru is expected to start operations soon. These moves are part of Apple’s broader effort to scale up its India operations amid escalating US-China trade tensions and steep US tariffs on Chinese goods, which now exceed 100 percent in some categories.

The Bengaluru plant in Devanahalli, being built with a USD 2.8 billion (Rs 25,000 crore) investment, will be Foxconn’s second-largest outside China and is designed to produce up to 20 million iPhones annually. Trial production of the iPhone 17 series is already underway at the site. Meanwhile, Tata Electronics is producing components like casings and has begun assembling older-generation iPhones at its newly operational factory in Hosur. It will gradually scale up production.

Tata has now become Apple’s second-largest supplier in India, following its acquisition of Pegatron and Wistron’s local facilities. Apple aims to shift the manufacturing of over 60 million iPhones annually to India by 2026, enough to cover all US demand. In March alone, India-based factories shipped iPhones worth USD two billion to the US—a record monthly export figure for both Foxconn and Tata.