Irish firm PCH on list of Apple assembly facilities

Irish supply chain firm PCH International is the only non-Taiwanese company – aside from Apple itself – to feature among Apple’s seven main final assembly facilities, according to a list released by the Cupertino-based firm.

The six Taiwanese companies on the list include Hon Hai – the flagship of Terry Gou’s Foxconn Technology Group which assembles Apple devices at six locations in China, as well as iPads and iPhones in Brazil.

PCH declined to comment on the report but industry sources familiar with the situation said PCH’s inclusion was a major boon for the Cork-based company.

“In the supply chain business, this is the only list you want to be on,” the source said. “The way they have categorised PCH among the top seven final assemblers is a big deal for the company.” PCH’s China base is in Shenzhen.

Apple broke its silence on its suppliers last year after it came under pressure amid bad public relations following a series of accidents and suicides at Foxconn in Shenzhen and other parts of China.

This year the list confirms what products are put together by which assemblers and at what factories. The suppliers include Foxlink, which is owned by Terry Gou’s brother, TC Gou.The others are Pegatron Corp, Quanta, Primax and Inventec Appliances Corp.

The statement confirms that Hon Ha, Foxconn’s factory in the central Chinese city of Taiyuan, where a large riot took place in September, makes the iPhone. It also outlines how Hon Hai’s two factories in the southern city of Shenzhen assemble iPads, iPods, iPhones and computers, while its newer plant in Chengdu makes iPads.

Apple itself runs a facility making computers in Ireland.