Tata Group is in advanced talks with Taiwan’s Pegatron Corp (和碩) to form a partnership to run an iPhone assembly plant that the Indian company is building in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
Tata is building the iPhone assembly plant in Hosur city, which is to be its second such facility in the country. The move comes as Apple and its contract manufacturers are rapidly expanding their India operations.
Tata is in talks to form a joint venture with Pegatron for the Hosur plant — its first such initiative — that would help accelerate its plans to start manufacturing, said the two sources, who declined to be named as the talks are private and the deal has not been closed.
Photo: Reuters, Vijay Mathur
The Taiwanese firm would provide technical and engineering support at the plant, the sources said.
Pegatron did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours in Taiwan. Tata and Apple also did not immediately respond.
CRUCIAL
Tata’s success is crucial to Apple’s ambitions. The US firm has been diversifying beyond China following COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, and geopolitical tensions.
The proportion of iPhones made in India is expected to reach 20 percent to 25 percent this year, up from 12 percent to 14 percent last year, Apple analyst Kuo Ming-chi (郭明錤) said.
Tata’s new plant with Pegatron is expected to have 20 lines for iPhone assembly, one of the sources said, adding that the Indian firm would hold a majority stake in the joint venture.
“Tata cannot build everything from scratch,” the second source said, speaking on the rationale behind the tie-up.
Tata’s first iPhone assembly plant is in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan’s Wistron Corp (緯創) last year.
Pegatron independently operates an iPhone assembly plant in Tamil Nadu and is in talks to add a second facility. It accounts for about 10 percent of Apple’s iPhone output in India, with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) accounting for most of the remaining output.
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