The Indian company Tata Electronics has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the Pegatron plant in India, which manufactures iPhones. This will create a new joint venture that will strengthen Tata's position as a key supplier to Apple. This was reported by Reuters.
According to the agreement, Tata will own 60% and carry out day-to-day operations of the joint venture. Pegatron will own the rest and provide technical support. This plant employs 10,000 people and assembles 5 million iPhones annually.
The first reports that Pegatron was negotiating the sale of its only iPhone manufacturing plant in India to Tata appeared in April 2024.
Amid geopolitical tensions, Apple is increasingly seeking to diversify its supply chain beyond mainland China. Tata is one of the largest conglomerates in India and is rapidly expanding iPhone production, competing with Foxconn, until recently the only contract manufacturer of Apple smartphones in India.
Tata already has an iPhone assembly plant in the southern state of Karnataka, which it acquired from Taiwan's Wistron last year. It is also building another plant in Hosur in Tamil Nadu, where it also has an iPhone component manufacturing plant.
Analysts estimate that India will account for 20-25% of total iPhone production this year, up from 12-14% last year.