Apple supplier Jabil to come up with Rs 2,000 crore manufacturing unit in Tiruchirapalli

Apple’s contract manufacturer Jabil will set up an electronics manufacturing facility in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. The company will invest Rs 2,000 crore and will create 5,000 jobs.

Jabil is also a major supplier to Cisco and HP. Earlier this year, Jabil began manufacturing AirPod components-plastic bodies-for Apple in India. From India, Jabil majorly exports to destinations like Vietnam and China. In Pune, Jabil has a manufacturing plant of 858,000 sq ft and it employs almost 2,500 people. The deal was finalised on Tuesday in the wake of CM M K Stalin's visit to the US.

"A significant investment of Rs 2,000 crore at Tiruchirapalli by Jabil, a global leader in EMS. This will create 5,000 jobs and establish a new cluster for electronics manufacturing," Stalin posted on the X platform.

Another company, Rockwell Automation is also spreading its manufacturing with an investment of Rs 666 crore in Kanchipuram. This will create 365 jobs. A memorandum of understanding was also signed with Autodesk to skill youth and boost MSMEs and startups, strengthening the overall industrial ecosystem.  

Tamil Nadu has recently experienced a significant surge in electronics exports, largely driven by the growth of iPhone exports. The state has become India's leading electronics exporter, with exports totaling $9.56 billion in FY24, a 78 percent increase from $5.37 billion in FY23, surpassing both Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh by a considerable margin.

According to industry experts, one of the key reasons for the rise in exports is the China-Plus-One strategy adopted by global majors like Apple, after which its contractors like Foxconn and Pegatron, and suppliers like Salcomp, contributed to the emergence of Tamil Nadu as the country’s electronics hub last year. Coined in 2013, China-Plus-One is a global business strategy where companies avoid investing solely in China and diversify their operations to alternative destinations.