Quanta Computer may build Vietnam plant to make MacBooks

Taiwan’s Quanta Computer, a world-leading contract laptop maker, is likely to set up a manufacturing plant in northern Vietnam where Apple supplier Foxconn is set to make MacBooks in the second half of 2023.

Quanta, which supplies top American brands like Apple, Dell, and HP, is mulling over such plant construction to mainly perform orders for Apple MacBooks, according to a report Wednesday by Taiwanese leading tech magazine Digitimes, which quoted industry sources.

A specific timetable for the heavyweight has not been known. Quanta’s yearly sales revenue is more than $10 billion, according to the producer.

The Digitimes report came while Vietnam is emerging as Apple’s next production hub, with Taiwan-based Foxconn planning to start producing MacBooks in the Southeast Asian country for the first time as early as around May.

Major electronics manufacturers in Apple’s supply chain are expected to speed up shifting their production lines out of China to diversify manufacturing. However, the relocation of the supply chain would take years to go, according to international experts.

Vietnam is already home to facilities of major assemblers of Apple products like Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron, Luxshare Precision, Compal Electronics, Goertek and BYD. Among them, Foxconn, Luxshare, and Compal are mainly responsible for MacBook and Apple Watch assembly, while Luxshare and Goertek are major AirPod suppliers.

As Apple has recently tapped Foxconn to make MacBooks in Vietnam, the Apple products manufactured in the country are MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, and Apple Watches. The list may include HomePods in the future, according to a CNBC report on December 20.

Compal Electronics signed a deal on December 16 to lease 40 hectares of land in Thai Binh province for its new $260 million investment to build a new factory. The facility’s annual capacity will include 2.1 million smartwatches, 70,000 cable modems, 100,000 wireless wi-fi routers, 10,000 5G network frequency modules, 1.1 million Internet of Things (IoT) devices, 1.25 million tablets, and others.