Bengaluru, 11th Jan 2023- Tata Group succeeding with its bid to take over an iPhone assembly plant in Bengaluru, India. That would give a boost to the country’s ambitions to become an electronics manufacturing hub.
The $128 billion Tata Group has been in talks for months with Apple Inc.’s Taiwanese supplier Wistron Corp. and is looking to seal the purchase of its assembly factory near Bangalore by the end of March. The salt-to-airline conglomerate has been expanding its presence in technology, and India’s government has taken steps to challenge China’s dominance in electronics.
As per the discussions, Tata Group is likely to oversee the main manufacturing operation, with support from Wistron. It may be noted that neither Tata Group or Wistron Corp has given any public statements regarding the possibility of such a deal.
Apple usually relies on Taiwanese manufacturing giants like Wistron and Foxconn Technology Group for manufacturing and assembly of its iPhones. If Tata Group successfully completes the deal, it would significantly boost India’s efforts to create local contenders who can challenge China’s dominance in electronics.
The 2.2 million square-foot manufacturing plant is located just over 50 kilometres east of Bengaluru and Tata Group will take over all of the eight iPhone lines as well as the plant’s 10,000 workers, including engineers, if the deal goes through.
The acquisition could value Wistron’s only iPhone manufacturing operation in India at more than $600 million.