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.
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
The Taipei International Cycle Show (Taipei Cycle) yesterday opened at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, with the event’s organizer expecting a steady recovery in the industry this year following a tough last year. This year, 980 companies from 35 countries are participating in the annual bicycle trade show, showcasing technological breakthroughs and market development trends of the bicycle industry at 3,600 booths, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said in a statement. Under the theme “Ride the Revolution,” the exhibition has attracted more than 3,500 international buyers from 80 countries to preregister for the four-day event, which is expected to
RSS