Apple supplier Luxshare to take control of key iPhone plant in eastern China via US$300 million deal with Taiwan’s Pegatron

Shares of Luxshare rose more than 4.5 per cent in early Friday trading in Shenzhen, while Pegatron shares fell as much as 4.4 per cent in Taipei. Hon Hai shares were little changed.

The Cupertino, California-based company relies on the Greater China region for about 20 per cent of its total sales, prompting chief executive Tim Cook to say in March that the company’s relationship with the world’s second-largest economy is a symbiotic one.

Luxshare’s prominence within the Apple supply chain has risen swiftly in recent years. It now makes a range of products for the US customer, including iPhones, iPod, Apple Watch and mixed-reality headset Vision Pro.

Yet as Apple cultivates mainland Chinese suppliers at the expense of Taiwanese contract manufacturers, it is also shifting some production away from the region amid tensions between Washington and Beijing. Apple is now relying on Foxconn and Pegatron to expand its manufacturing footprint in India.