Tata’s Historic Leap as the 1st Indian iPhone Manufacturer

Important key takeaways:

• The Tata Group is set to manufacture India’s first homegrown iPhone as it gains approval from Wistron Corp to purchase an assembly plant near Bengaluru. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced that iPhone production would commence within two and a half years.

• The Tata conglomerate has been in discussions with Taiwanese iPhone maker Wistron for over a year to take control of the plant.

• A statement by the company confirmed that the board has approved the sale of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Private Ltd. to Tata for $125 million, although previous reports had estimated the deal’s value at over $600 million.

• Tata is expected to honor manufacturing and hiring commitments made by Wistron, which includes shipping iPhones worth at least $1.8 billion from the factory by March 2024 to qualify for state-backed financial incentives. Wistron had also planned to triple its workforce at the plant by the following year.

• The facility currently employs over 10,000 workers who are responsible for assembling the latest iPhone 14 model, marking a significant development in India’s smartphone manufacturing capabilities.