Qorvo to sell China plants to iPhone assembler Luxshare

United States wireless connectivity chip company Qorvo has decided to sell two of its factories in China to a local company in the latest case of American technology firms scaling down their operations in the country.

Greensboro, North Carolinabased Qorvo, formed after the merger of RF Micro Devices and TriQuint Semiconductor in 2014, said it had entered into an agreement with contract manufacturer Luxshare, a key assembler of iPhones, to sell its integrated circuit assembly operations in Beijing and Dezhou, a city in Shandong province.

Luxshare will take over the operations and assets, including the property, plant, equipment and existing workforce. Qorvo would maintain its teams of sales, engineering and customer support in China to continue serving customers, the company said. It did not specify the financial terms.

The factories sold to Luxshare primarily handle Qorvo’s advanced mobile phone products. Upon completion of the deal, expected in the first half of next year, the two companies will enter into a long-term supply agreement under which Luxshare will assemble and test those products for the US chip firm.

The sale represents the latest example of changing global supply chains as American tech firms are cutting reliance on China-based production facilities.

It also reveals Luxshare’s growing ambitions to expand its manufacturing business.

Established two decades ago as a computer cable assembler in Dongguan, Luxshare has grown to become a key part of Apple’s China manufacturing supply chain, tapped by the US firm to make more of its consumer electronics products.

It is the primary supplier for Apple’s AirPods. It was also tapped to make iPhone 14 models following worker clashes at the Zhengzhou plant of Apple’s main subcontractor Foxconn last year.