New Delhi: Sabih Khan was 10 when his household left Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad for Singapore in 1976. He was simply one other bright-eyed Indian youngster, touchdown in a metropolis bursting with ambition. He barely spoke English then. Now, practically 5 a long time later, that very same boy sits on the high of one of many world’s strongest tech empires – as the brand new Chief Working Officer (COO) of Apple Inc.
The announcement has stirred boardrooms. Khan’s elevation is being seen as an indication of tectonic shifts inside Apple, significantly round India. The person who as soon as walked the alleys of Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh now runs the availability chain of an organization that shapes world shopper behaviour. And he’s doing it at a time when his predecessor Jeff Williams is getting ready for retirement, and Apple faces rising stress over the place and the way it makes its iPhones.
Born in 1966, Khan’s journey started removed from Silicon Valley. After spending his early childhood in India, his household moved to Singapore, the place he accomplished his early schooling. He then pursued his school research in the USA, incomes levels in mechanical engineering and economics from Tufts College. He adopted it with a grasp’s in mechanical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Khan started his Apple journey in 1995. He joined the procurement group and labored his approach up via the ranks. By 2019, he was Apple’s Senior Vice President of Operations, main the corporate’s huge manufacturing and logistics engine – from part sourcing to product supply.
He additionally spearheaded Apple’s Provider Duty Programme, specializing in moral labour and employee schooling at manufacturing websites world wide.
Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner, in an announcement, referred to as him “one of many principal architects of Apple’s world provide chain”. “Sabih Khan has helped advance new manufacturing applied sciences and led our growth within the U.S., whereas making certain Apple stays resilient via world challenges,” he mentioned.
He went on to reward Khan’s environmental management, highlighting, “He helped drive our formidable environmental sustainability programme, slicing Apple’s carbon footprint by 60 p.c. Most significantly, Sabih leads with coronary heart and lives by his values.”
Jeff Williams, the outgoing COO, additionally applauded Khan. “I’ve labored with him for 27 years. I consider he’s essentially the most gifted operations government on this planet. I’ve little question Apple’s future is brilliant underneath his management,” he mentioned.
Earlier than becoming a member of Apple, Khan labored at GE Plastics as an Software Growth Engineer and Account Technical Chief. There, he helped design customised plastic merchandise in collaboration with purchasers.
However past the boardroom accolades lies a a lot deeper subtext. Khan’s appointment comes amid Apple’s rising shift towards India.
In 2017, Apple started assembling iPhones in India. Prior to now 12 months alone, Apple produced $22 billion value of iPhones in India – a 60 p.c leap from the earlier 12 months. The corporate exported $17.4 billion value of these gadgets throughout the 2024-25 fiscal interval.
This month, Apple confirmed that it’s shifting important parts of its manufacturing out of China.
Tim Prepare dinner instructed buyers throughout a name that “we count on a lot of the iPhones offered within the U.S. to be made in India”. He additionally mentioned that merchandise like iPads and Apple watches will more and more be made in Vietnam.
At current, 20 p.c of all iPhones offered globally are made in India. Apple plans to extend that determine within the coming years – a strategic realignment that many see as each a geopolitical response and a enterprise hedge.
The timing of Khan’s elevation additionally sends a message not solely inside Apple, however globally. Only in the near past, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Prepare dinner that if Apple continued to supply iPhones outdoors the USA, particularly in India, it might face heavy tariffs. That warning got here with political warmth, however Apple didn’t blink. As an alternative, it doubled down on its India technique and promoted a Moradabad-born engineer to one of the vital highly effective posts within the firm.
The message, to many, is evident. Apple just isn’t backing down. And with Khan now within the cockpit of its world operations, the corporate appears extra decided than ever to wager on India and its folks.