Tata Group Set To Become India’s 1st Local iPhone Manufacturer: Report – News18

Tata Group is reportedly set to acquire an Apple supplier’s factory in August. The Wistron facility in Karnataka, worth over $600 million, will be taken over by Tata and become the first local company to assemble iPhones. The factory currently employs over 10,000 workers who assemble the iPhone 14 model.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Wistron has committed to shipping iPhones worth at least $1.8 billion (roughly Rs. 14,800 crores) from the factory in the fiscal year through March 2024 to win state-backed financial incentives.

It also planned to triple the plant’s workforce by next year. Tata is set to honour those commitments as Wistron exits the iPhone business in India, the report added.

The report also suggested that the addition of an Indian iPhone is likely to add momentum to Apple’s efforts to diversify its product base beyond China and build up technology manufacturing in the South Asian nation.

Wistron exported nearly $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,100 crore) in iPhones from India in the three months ended June 30, and Apple’s other key Taiwanese suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron, have also ramped up locally.

In related news, Foxconn, an Apple supplier, is planning to apply separately for setting up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in India. The Taiwanese firm said that it is reviewing the landscape for optimal partners for the project.

“Foxconn is working toward submitting an application related to Modified Programme for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem. We have been actively reviewing the landscape for optimal partners,” Foxconn said in a statement. The new development has come after the company announced its exit from a semiconductor joint venture with Vedanta on Monday.

By applying for a separate chip manufacturing unit in India, Foxconn is planning to seek the benefit of incentives that India is offering under its semiconductor manufacturing policy.