Staff Writer
According to persons with knowledge of the situation, Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate, is nearing an agreement to buy an Apple Inc. supplier’s plant as early as August, marking the first time a local company would enter the production of iPhones.
According to the persons, who asked not to be identified because the situation is confidential, a takeover of the Wistron Corp. factory in southern Karnataka state, which may be worth more than $600 million, would end approximately a year of negotiations. More than 10,000 people labor at the factory assembling the newest iPhone 14 model.
According to the sources, Wistron has agreed to supply iPhones worth at least $1.8 billion from the factory during the fiscal year ending in March 2024 in order to get state-backed financial incentives. By the following year, it also intended to treble the plant’s staff. As Wistron departs the Indian iPhone market, Tata is prepared to uphold its agreements.
Apple, Wistron, and Tata spokespeople all declined to comment.
The launch of an Indian iPhone is anticipated to give Apple’s initiatives to expand technology manufacturing in South Asia and diversify its product base beyond China more momentum. In the three months that concluded on June 30, Wistron exported about $500 million worth of iPhones from India, while Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp., two of Apple’s major Taiwanese suppliers, have also done so.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi established government initiatives with generous financial incentives to increase production and employment, India has advanced in domestic manufacturing.
After China’s Covid lockdowns and the escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, Apple has intensified attempts to diversify away from China.
Modi’s aspirations to compete with China as the world’s factory may receive a big boost if an Indian company starts producing iPhones.
It might encourage other major electronics manufacturers to think about producing in India in order to lessen their dependency on China.
The 155-year-old Tata Group offers products ranging from tech services to salt.
The group has been attempting to break into the relatively uncharted waters of e-commerce and electronics manufacturing for the past few years.
At its plant situated on hundreds of acres of land in the state of Tamil Nadu, it already manufactures iPhone chassis, or the metal framework of the gadget.
The Tatas also support chip manufacturing aspirations, according to Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
