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 facility as early as August this year, striking a milestone moment that for the first time an indigenous organization would begin the manufacturing of iPhones.
The close sources 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. The factory has about 10,000 workers who build the most recent iPhone 14.
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 ends its iPhone operations in India, Tata plans to uphold its agreements.
Apple’s plans to increase technology manufacturing in South Asia and broaden its product line beyond China are expected to gain steam with the release of an Indian iPhone.
In the three months that ended on June 30, Wistron exported iPhones from India worth almost $500 million, and two of Apple’s major Taiwanese suppliers, Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp., increased local production.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi established government initiatives with generous financial incentives to increase production and employment, India has advanced in domestic manufacturing. After the Covid lockdowns in China and the rising hostilities between Washington and Beijing, Apple has stepped up its efforts to diversify its business away from China.
