Apple’s Key Supplier Salcomp Buys Nokia’s India Factory For $30 Mn

Salcomp, the Finnish company, which is one of the key suppliers of chargers for Apple, has recently purchased an abandoned factory for $30 Mn (INR 215 Cr) that was once owned by Nokia.

Salcomp confirming the deal, on Monday (November 25), told ET that they have reached an agreement with Nokia for the purchase of the factory in Sriperumbudur in Chennai. The company is excited to complete the transaction and start manufacturing from this facility, as soon as possible. Salcomp will also be investing $300 Mn for the next three years to start operations from this plant by March 2020 and plans to scale up its exports to about $2 Bn from there.

The new plant is also expected to generate employment for over 10K people, compared to the existing two plants owned by Salcomp in Chennai, which employees close to 7K people.

Salcomp currently is one of the largest global players in electronics manufacturing and started its Indian operation in 2007. The company develops chargers and adapters for leading mobile phones and other devices.

In retrospect, the Nokia manufacturing plant was shut down on November 1, 2014, due to a tax dispute between Nokia and the local government. The unit was once the largest manufacturing hub, where more than 100 Mn headsets were manufactured every year. Sadly, when the plant got shut down more than 8000 people lost their jobs.

Will Apple’s ‘Make In India’ Dream Come True?

The trade war between China and the US has given a tremendous opportunity for other countries to capitalise in India. Apple perfectly fitting the picture, recently announced the investment of $1 Bn to export ‘Made in India’ iPhones around the world in collaboration with Foxconn.

The tech giant has been leveraging in electronics manufacturing companies and suppliers like Salcomp and Foxconn to further boost its smartphone production in the country. Most importantly, the component and electronics manufacturers, including Foxconn, Salcomp, Wistron, Flex, Sunwoda Electronic Co, CCL Design (Suzhou) and Shenzhen Yuto Packaging Technology among others, have all set up its base in India, further fueling smartphones manufacturing in the country.

In October 2019, Apple started the manufacturing of iPhone XR in Chennai. Prior to this, the company was into assembling older models like iPhone 6S, SE and iPhone 7 in India.