Foxconn plans to invest up to $ 1 billion to grow a factory in southern India where a Taiwanese contractor company collects Apple iPhones, two sources said.

The move, an unprecedented measure, is part of Apple’s peaceful and slow-moving production shift away from China as disruption of the trade war between Beijing and Washington and the cholera epidemic.

“There is a strong request from Apple for its customers to ship part of the iPhone production to China,” one source with specific information on the matter told Reuters.

Foxconn said it did not comment on customer-related issues, while Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Foxconn’s planned investment in the Sriperumbur area, where the Apple XR is located 50 kilometers west of C Chennai, will continue for three years, a second source said.

Other Apple models and other Apple models, made by Poxconn in China, will be made for this plant, said both sources, who declined to be identified as confidential talks and details yet to be finalized. Taipei-headquartered Foipec will add about 6,000 jobs to the Sriperumbur factory in Tamil Nadu province under the program, one source said. It works with a unique plant in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where we make Smartphones from Xiaomi Corp China, among others.

Foxconn chairman Liu Young-way last month said it would increase their investment in India, without providing details. Apple priced at about 1% of smartphone sales in India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market, where its expensive iPhones are often seen as a sign of status.

Apple is shutting down one of its industries from China amid a growing technological war between Beijing and Washington.

“There is a strong request from Apple to its customers to remove part of the iPhone production out of China,” one source told Reuters.

Production of other Apple’s Apple products, made by Foxconn in China, will move to the Sriperumbur plant in Tamil Nadu province, where Apple’s Apple XR is being made, a source told Reuters.

The planned factory expansion will create 6,000 new jobs, one source said, according to Reuters.

Some experts say making more calls in India will help Apple save import taxes and labor costs in India where iPhones are considered a status symbol due to higher prices.

Apple’s production changes are in line with the Indian government’s plan, launched last month, to offer incentives to global smartphone brands with promises to establish or increase production in the South Asian country.

Building more phones in India will also help Apple save on income tax that furthers its prices.

Apple is assembling a number of models with Taiwanese Wistron Corp in a technology center south of Bengaluru. Wistron is also set to open a new plant, which plans to make more Apple devices, Reuters reported earlier.

“With India’s performance cheaper compared to China, and with the gradual expansion of its supplier base here, Apple will be able to use the country as an export hub,” said Neil Shah of Hong Kong, a Hong Kong technology researcher.