2024-11-18 10:16:58 :
Tata Electronics will acquire a 60% majority stake in Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron’s iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu to form a new joint venture (JV), Reuters reported, citing two sources.
The move will strengthen Tata’s position as an Apple supplier in India’s supply chain, the sources added.
What we know so far
Tata Electronics will hold 60% of the joint venture and be responsible for daily operations, while Pegatron will hold the remaining 40% and provide technical support, they added.
The report pointed out that the details of the transaction have not been made public, and the sources did not elaborate on the financial aspects.
The deal was announced inside the iPhone factory on Friday, November 15, according to the first source. The second source added that Tata and Pegatron would seek approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in the “coming days”.
The report added that Tata declined to comment, while Apple and Pegatron did not respond to questions sent on November 17.
Development background
Reuters first reported in April that Pegatron had Apple’s backing and was in advanced talks to sell its only iPhone factory in India to Tata, marking the latest step in the Taiwanese company’s scaling back of its partnership with Apple relation.
Apple has increasingly sought to diversify its supply chain outside of China amid geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. For India’s Tata, the Pegatron plant in Chennai will support its iPhone manufacturing plans.
Tata, one of India’s largest conglomerates, has been rapidly expanding into iPhone manufacturing, rivaling Foxconn, India’s only iPhone contract manufacturer.
Tata already operates an iPhone assembly plant in the southern state of Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan’s Wistron last year. The company is also building another factory in Hosur in Tamil Nadu state, which also houses an iPhone parts factory where a fire broke out in September.
Analysts estimate that India will account for 20-25% of total iPhone shipments this year, compared with 12-14% last year.
The Tata Pegatron factory has about 10,000 employees and produces 5 million iPhones per year. It will be Tata’s third iPhone factory in India.
(With information from Reuters)
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