Tata Group may sign an agreement to acquire Apple Inc. supplier’s factory

Tata Group may soon sign an agreement to acquire an Apple Inc. supplier’s factory as soon as August and this will be the first time that a local company will shift into the assembly of iPhones, as per the people familiar with the matter.

According to sources, the negotiation is going on for almost a year and it may result in acquisition of the Wistron Corp. factory in southern Karnataka state. The potential value of the acquisition is over $600 million. The facility employs more than 10,000 workers, who assemble the latest iPhone 14 model.

Wistron has committed to ship iPhones worth at least $1.8 billion from the factory in the fiscal year through March 2024 to win state-backed financial incentives, the people said. It also planned to triple the plant’s workforce by next year. Tata is set to honor those commitments as Wistron exits the iPhone business in India.

In the last three months ended June 30, Wistron exported almost $500 million in iPhones from India.  

India has shown progress in domestic manufacturing since Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up government programs with lucrative financial incentives to expand production and employment. Apple has stepped up efforts to diversify away from China in the aftermath of the country’s Covid lockdowns and rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

An Indian company entering the manufacturing of the iPhone will boost the PM’s efforts to challenge China’s status as the factory of the world. Other global electronics brands may get encouragement and consider production in India to reduce their reliance on China.

The 155-year-old Tata Group sells everything from salt to tech services. Over the past few years, the group has sought to make inroads into electronics production and e-commerce, both relatively new territories for the Tata family.

It already makes iPhone chassis, or the metal backbone of the device, at its factory spread over hundreds of acres of land in Tamil Nadu state. The Tatas also foster chipmaking ambitions, Chairman N Chandrasekaran has previously said.