Apple partner Wistron goes on an iPhone-building hiring spree in India

iPhone with AirPods (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple supplier Wistron is reportedly on a hiring spree.
The company is bringing in as many as 10,000 people.
The move is to bolster iPhone manufacturing in Narasapura, India,.

Apple partner Wistron is reportedly trying to hire as many as 10,000 people in an attempt to boost its Indian iPhone manufacturing capabilities. The company's Narasapura, India plant will start iPhone production within days.

This according to a new report in The New Indian Express that notes Wistron has already managed to recruit around 2,000 people.

The manufacturing facility in Kolar is expected to generate around 10,000 jobs. As per the Karnataka Industrial Policy, 70 per cent of jobs should be given to locals. Accordingly, at least 7,000 people from Karnataka are expected to get jobs here. The company is believed to have already recruited about 2,000 people so far."We are happy to note that recruitment process has begun," said Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary to India's Industries and Commerce Department. He added that they are "going to start production soon." Wistron has not yet confirmed the news.

Apple and its suppliers have been steadily moving manufacturing beyond China in an attempt to reduce their reliance on the region. Tensions between China and the United States are part of the reason, although the recent COVID-19 situation has shown that having all of your iPhone-shaped eggs in a single Chinese basket isn't wise. With plants spread around the world, Apple's iPhone manufacturing is less likely to be impacted by issues local to a particular area or country.

Foxconn and Pegatron, both important Apple partners, have also moved to bring manufacturing online in China in recent times.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.