Seller of cellphones, laptops will shift production to Long Island from China, creating 1,000 jobs

A supplier of cellphones, laptops, mobile hot spots and other telecommunications equipment for customers such as Verizon wants to move its manufacturing from China to Long Island, creating 1,000 factory jobs over the next five years, a top executive told Newsday.

Orbic Electronics Manufacturing LLC is pursuing a multimillion-dollar “Made in America” strategy at the behest of its customers who want their supplies to be made domestically in order to avoid a repeat of the shipping backlogs that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic with imported goods. The customers also hope to stand out from their rivals with American consumers, said Mike Narula, CEO of Hauppauge-based Orbic.

“China has dominated [the telecommunications industry] when it comes to manufacturing and supply chain … We decided to go down a different path in building the Orbic brand and to set ourselves apart from the competition by having ‘Made in USA’ on our products,” he said in an interview. “Also, our top customers, like Verizon, are asking us to do this.”