SUMMARY
TDK Corporation will set up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana for manufacturing the battery cells
The facility will be of the same design as Apple’s other megafactories in China and is expected to begin production in 12–18 months
The manufactured cells will be supplied to Sunwoda Electronics, Apple's Li-ion battery assembler, which currently imports cells from global markets
In yet another move by Apple to prop up its manufacturing in India, the Cupertino-based tech giant is bringing its global lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturer, TDK Corporation, to India.
The leading electronic component and device maker from Japan will manufacture the cells for batteries in India to power the iPhones assembled in the country, sources aware of the development told Business Standard. The manufactured cells will be supplied to Sunwoda Electronics, Apple’s Li-ion battery assembler, which imports cells from various global markets.
TDK Corporation will set up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana, to manufacture the said cells for iPhone batteries. The facility will be of the same design as Apple’s other megafactories in China, where workers’ residential quarters are built alongside the manufacturing plants. The plant is expected to start manufacturing cells within the next 12–18 months.
According to estimates, TDK controls more than 60% of the global market for Li-ion battery cells used in mobile phones, laptops, and tablets, among others. The Japanese company established a unit to manufacture Li-ion battery cells after it acquired Hong Kong-based Amperex Technology in 2005.
As per the report, the contract with Apple could result in the creation of 8,000–10,000 direct jobs and over 25,000 indirect jobs.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of state for electronics and IT, confirmed the development in a post on X. “TDK, a leading supplier of cells to Apple, is setting up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana to build cells for batteries which will be used in #MadeInIndia iPhones,” the minister wrote.
The development comes months after Fumio Sashida, corporate officer and part of the leadership team of TDK Corporation, was in India in mid-October, when he met top officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to discuss the deal.
Currently, Apple imports battery cells from China to assemble iPhones in India. According to industry estimates, device makers in India pay up to INR 25,500 Cr in foreign exchange each year to import the cells.
As such, the Cupertino-based tech giant sees value in increasing iPhones’ domestic value addition (DVA) via local cell manufacturing. For context, these cells account for 70% of the cost of the Li-ion battery. While the Li-ion battery accounts for 4% of the DVA on the iPhone, the cells account for 3%. Currently, the overall value addition of iPhones assembled in India ranges between 12% and 15%, depending on the model.
The development comes weeks after the Tata Group bought an iPhone manufacturing unit of the Taiwanese firm Wistron for $125 Mn. Tata acquired the Karnataka plant of Wistron, which employs about 10,000 people, to assemble the iPhone 14. The salt-to-software conglomerate wants to expand its Tamil Nadu unit’s production capacity.
Apple started ramping up production in India in 2021 amid disruptions in its supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic restriction in China and rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Since then, India has rapidly emerged as an important part of Apple’s global supply chain, accounting for around 7% of total iPhones produced globally. Besides, India is also an important market for Apple. Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook called India an ‘exciting market’ during its latest earnings call.
“We had an all-time revenue record in India. We grew very strong double-digits. It’s an incredibly exciting market for us and a major focus of ours. We have low share in a large market, and so it would seem there’s a lot of headroom there,” Cook said during Apple’s Q4 2023 earnings call.
