China, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, is a major manufacturing base for Cupertino-based tech giant Apple Inc. However, since the country’s dominance in electronics manufacturing has been under constant threat, mainly due to the advancing Covid lockdown and perennial political tensions with the US, Apple has started looking elsewhere to diversify its production. Since then, India has become Apple’s best manufacturing bet in Asia outside of China, and there is talk that the Tata Group may just be the first Indian company to make iPhones.
Just last month, sources said the US tech giant was considering manufacturing the upcoming iPhone 14 in India, two months after its initial release in China – a relatively unsurprising move as Apple was in the midst of its biggest India push yet. CEO Tim Cook has been very vocal about the South Asian nation being a key market for the company’s growth. Fresh talks now suggest that Tata Group, India’s top conglomerate, may be the first Indian company to assemble the latest iPhone series.
A Bloomberg report said Tata Group is in talks with Apple Inc’s Taiwanese supplier, Wistron Corp, to set up an electronics joint venture in India that aims to assemble iPhones in the South Asian country.
“Discussions with Wistron Corp. are aimed at making Tata a force in technology manufacturing, and the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate wants to tap the Taiwanese company’s expertise in product development, supply chain and assembly”, the report states.
