An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year.
Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country.
A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.”
Photo: Reuters
“We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,” the spokesperson said.
The conglomerate did not say when the facility would resume full production or whether the fire would result in shipment delays. Analysts had initially projected a delay in production of older iPhone models.
The fire is the latest incident to affect Apple’s supply chain in India, with two other blazes temporarily halting production at factories owned by Taiwanese suppliers Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Foxlink Group (正崴) last year.
India has been a major beneficiary of Apple’s decision to broaden its production outside of China. The company plans to also start locally manufacturing AirPods, its wireless earphones, at a facility owned by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), the Times of India reported yesterday.
Foxconn, a principal assembler of iPhones, is also in the process of building a major phone assembly plant near Bengaluru, the country’s principal information technology hub.
Other tech companies have followed suit, with Google this year beginning the local manufacture of its flagship Pixel 8 smartphone.
Tamil Nadu, where the Tata factory is based, has worked to cultivate its high-tech manufacturing industry. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin concluded a whirlwind tour of the US last month, securing fresh investment commitments worth nearly US$900 million, local media reports said.
Key deals include promises from Finnish tech giant Nokia and payments firm PayPal to set up research and artificial intelligence development centers in the state.
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