apples Taiwanese supplier Pegatron is in talks to open a second factory in India, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the US tech giant’s partners diversify production away from China.
Pegatron plans to add a second facility near the southern city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, just six months after the first opened with an investment of US$150 million (about Rs 1,236 billion), the sources, who sought anonymity, said , since the conversations are private .
The new factory, according to the first source, will “assemble the latest iPhones.”
Pegatron declined to comment, but said, “Any acquisition of assets will be disclosed in accordance with regulations.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
India is seen as the next frontier for Apple’s growth. According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association, between April 2022 and February this year, smartphones worth around US$9 billion (around Rs.78,303 billion) were exported from India, and iPhones accounted for more than 50 percent of them.
Pegatron currently accounts for 10 percent of Apple’s iPhone production in India on an annualized basis, research firm Counterpoint said.
Apple and its key suppliers have shifted manufacturing away from China to avoid potential damage to business from escalating China-US trade tensions. In recent years, Pegatron has sought to expand its presence in Southeast Asia and North America.
Discussions are ongoing to open a second Pegatron facility on a lease basis and it will be located in Mahindra World City near Chennai, right where the company inaugurated the first facility in September 2022.
Pegatron’s planned capital expenditures for the expansion aren’t immediately clear. However, the first source said the new factory will be smaller than the first.
Apple has bet a lot on the South Asian nation from the start iPhone Assembly in the country in 2017 over Wistron and later Foxconnin line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing.
India is the second largest smartphone market in the world, where Apple also plans to assemble iPad tablets and AirPods.
India’s Karnataka state announced this week that it has approved a US$968 million (about Rs.7,978 billion) investment by Foxconn, which will create 50,000 jobs.
Last week, Reuters reported that Foxconn was planning to build a $200 million factory (approx. It is already assembling some iPhone models at its Tamil Nadu plant.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
