India to grab a larger slice of Apple’s pie; Rs 25,000-crore semicon scheme likely to get Cabinet nod

Also in this letter:
■ LogiNext cofounder exits to start SaaS firm
■ Infographic Insight: AI’s $4.4 trillion opportunity
■ Lenovo will invest $1 billion in AI business

Apple may make 18% of iPhones in India by FY25: Report

India might soon grab a larger slice of Apple’s global iPhone production, thanks to the country’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones. A Bank of America report suggests that the mobile phone PLI scheme can aid India’s ambitious target of trebling domestic production, with the tech giant already doubling down on its investments in the country.

Driving the news: The report notes that the scheme might drive Apple to shift at least 18% of its global iPhone production to India by FY25. That number may climb if the more extensive scale incentivises Apple’s vendors to also expand in the country.

This can contribute to increasing domestic production to $126 billion and achieving five-fold growth in exports to $55 billion by FY26, according to the BofA report.

A mixed bag: Mobile phones account for 21.5% of India’s electronics domestic demand and are growing at a 15% compound rate annually, the report said, calling the PLI scheme a success story.

However, the low production value addition, at 18%, remains a key criticism of the scheme. In comparison, China and Vietnam have 38% and 24% local value addition, respectively.

Data decoded: The report said India consumed $158 billion worth of electronic goods in FY23. Yet, the majority of supplies were largely met by imports. Electronics imports stood at $77 billion in FY23, and are the second-largest item in the import bill, representing a fifth of the country’s trade deficit.

Cabinet likely to approve Rs 25,000 crore chip manufacturing scheme

Semiconductor manufacturing in India is expected to get a fillip from the government, which is likely to approve a Rs 25,000-crore scheme to boost chip production in the country, according to a report by ET Now. The government has been keen on bringing semiconductors into the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

Semiconductor mission: The India Semiconductor Mission aims to give applicant companies up to 50% of the total project cost of setting up a semiconductor plant, irrespective of the size of the node they propose to set up.

Also read | ETtech Explainer: What does it take to build a semiconductor ecosystem in a country?

India and semiconductors: India’s ambition to make a name for itself in the semiconductor ecosystem was born out of adverse events from the recent past. The Covid-19 pandemic, worsening relations with China, and a worldwide chip shortage were inflection points that led the Centre to push this project.

Review of PLI schemes: The government will evaluate the need for any course correction in sectors where it has launched production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, especially where the programmes haven’t taken off, senior officials told ET. The review will be completed by the end of this fiscal year.

LogiNext cofounder Manisha Raisinghani leaves to start SaaS firm

Manisha Raisinghani, cofounder, LogiNext

Manisha Raisinghani, cofounder, LogiNext Solutions, has moved on from the logistics-based software-as-a-service startup to build a new enterprise software startup, three people aware of the matter told ET.

Tell me more: Raisinghani’s new venture will not be competing with LogiNext Solutions, said people in the know. She is likely working on a startup comparable to the likes of Glean, a work assistant company that unifies a search tool for its enterprise clients, they added.

Further, the new startup is in talks to raise a seed round of funding and has held talks with early-stage investment funds such as Matrix Partners and Blume Ventures.

Raisinghani’s time at LogiNext: A source told ET that Raisinghani, a Carnegie Mellon University alumna, had quit from day-to-day operations at the company, by late 2021. She was the chief technology officer (CTO) at the New Jersey-headquartered firm. The company has yet to make any formal announcement on her exit.

Background check: Prior to cofounding LogiNext Solutions with CEO Dhruvil Sanghvi, Raisinghani worked across multiple software engineering roles at firms such as IBM, Warner Bros and Mastek. Mumbai-based LogiNext Solutions, founded in 2014, had last raised $39 million from Tiger Global Management and Steadview Capital in 2020.

Infographic Insight: A $4.4 trillion opportunity in Generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is set to add up to $4.4 trillion worth of value to the global economy annually, according to a report from McKinsey Global Institute, in what is one of the rosier predictions about the effects of the rapidly evolving technology.

Generative AI, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, which can generate text in response to prompts, can potentially lift productivity by saving 60% to 70% of workers’ time through automation, according to the 68-page report, which was published Wednesday. Half of all work will be automated between 2030 and 2060, the report said.

McKinsey had previously predicted that AI would automate half of all work between 2035 and 2075, but the power of generative AI tools, which exploded on the tech scene late last year, has truncated the company’s timeline.

Lenovo will invest $1 billion in AI business over next three years

Lenovo on Wednesday said it will invest $1 billion over the next three years to expand infrastructure solutions to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) deployment for businesses globally.

Investment contours: The company’s investment strategy includes an additional $100 million commitment to the expansion of the Lenovo AI Innovators programme which includes an ecosystem of software partners collaborating with the company to offer ready-to-deploy AI solutions.

The company said the programme has already delivered more than 150 AI-ready solutions created with 45 ISV (independent software vendor) partners.

Quote, unquote: “This announcement marks Lenovo’s largest AI infrastructure investment in history and will expand the company’s AI-ready portfolio of smart devices, infrastructure solutions and services to help accelerate innovation, enabling the use of generative AI and delivering cognitive decisions at scale,” the company said.

Accenture’s $3-bn bet: On Tuesday, IT services major Accenture said it will invest $3 billion in its data and artificial intelligence (AI) practice over the next three years, and double the AI headcount to 80,000 through hiring, acquisitions, and training.

Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Gaurab Dasgupta in New Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.