Apple is planning to start production of MacBooks in Vietnam by mid-2023, reports Nikkei Asia.

The US-based technology giant has approached its top supplier Foxconn to start making MacBooks in the Southeast Asian nation as early as around May.

Apple plans to move some MacBook production to Vietnam for the first time next year as it continues diversifying its production base away from China amid escalating tech tensions between Washington and Beijing.

As per a Counterpoint Research report, Foxconn aims to shift up to 30 percent of its capacity to India, Vietnam and Brazil.

Foxconn already developed high production capacities in India and Vietnam before the recent disruption at its Zhengzhou plant in China.

As of September 2022, there were 21 Apple suppliers in Vietnam.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Apple is telling suppliers to plan actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam in order to reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn.

Apple aims to ship 40-45 percent of iPhones from India compared with a single-digit percentage currently, according to analyst Ming-chi Kuo.