Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Group is in talks with a Taiwanese supplier to Apple Inc. to establish an electronics manufacturing joint venture in India, seeking to assemble iPhones in the South Asian country, Bloomberg news reported Friday.
According to the report, Wistron, a supplier to Apple, will establish an electronics manufacturing joint venture in the country along with the Tata Group.
An Indian company making iPhones would be a massive boost for the country's effort to challenge China, experts say.
The discussions with Wistron Corp. aims at making Tata a force in technology manufacturing, and the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate wants to tap the Taiwanese company's expertise in product development, supply chain and assembly, people with knowledge of the matter said.
If successful, the partnership could make Tata the first Indian company to build iPhones, which are currently mainly assembled by Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group in China and India.
A partnership would also likely result in Tata obtaining a share of Wistron's manufacturing business beyond smartphones, the report said.
Wistron began making iPhones in India in 2017.
iPhone production India:
Foxconn Technology Group is one of the major manufacturers of iPhones. The Taiwan-based company has production lines in China, Brazil, and India. Apple has been reportedly establishing production sites outside China to lessen the impact of geopolitical risks on its supply chain.
According to an August report in Bloomberg, iPhone 14 production will begin in the next two months in India.
While it is unlikely to happen this year, iPhone production in India could begin in late October or November.
Foxconn has studied the process of importing products from China and assembling the iPhone 14 at its plant outside Chennai.
India's capacity and shipment of iPhones still lag behind China's though it has only been a short while, but it is a significant step for Apple in creating a non-Chinese iPhone production facility.
The American company has been gradually increasing iPhone production in India. Currently, Foxconn (Hon Hai), Wistron, and Pegatron, three contract manufacturers, produce its gadgets in India.
(with inuts from Bloomberg)
