In case Apple or any of its customers need it, Pegatron is ready to expand its operations in the US by up to five times, according to company chairman TH Tung, as cited by Chinese news outlet Economic Daily News (via AppleInsider).
But the problem seems to be that Pegatron won’t be able to meet Apple’s demand for iPhones or Macs in peak seasons. Currently, Pegatron’s US plants in California and Indiana are used to assemble goods for HP and Dell. None of the facilities are used to assemble products for Apple.
During the company’s year-end banquet, Tung said it could increase its aforementioned facilities if needed. That could be a reaction to Donald Trump’s earlier call for American companies to bring production back to the US from China. Apple has allegedly asked Foxconn and Pegatron for a statement. Foxconn has already developed a plan (and we reported earlier that it might be working with Sharp to open an LCD plant in the US), but Pegatron has not, citing costs of effort.
Tung’s words could serve as a promise to help Apple achieve that, but as AppleInsider has learned, that would be a “far cry less” than Apple’s needs, even in a slow Mac quarter, not to mention the iPhone, meaning that Apple would need to contract another supplier if it selects Pegatron as its partner in the US.
