Most of the world's iPhone are manufactured in China. Photo / Supplied
The world's biggest electronics manufacturer has called time on China as the centre of global production, saying the country's days "as the world's factory are done".
Foxconn, the Taiwanese giant best known for assembling Apple's iPhones, said it was moving more of its production outside of China amid rising tariffs
on goods made in the country. Young Liu, the company's chairman, said that although China will be a major production hub, the country's "days as the world's factory are done".
China became the fulcrum of electronics manufacturing over the past two decades as enormous factories and markets were set up in supercities such as Shenzhen. But rising wages, the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, and the increasing importance of markets such as India, which charges tariffs on electronics imports, have led production to spread out across Asia and other parts of the world.
Foxconn, which assembles Apple products as well as other smartphones, games consoles and laptops, now relies on China for just 25 per cent of its production, against 30 per cent a year ago.
