Tata Group To Take Over Wistron’s iPhone Assembly Unit In Karnataka

Indian conglomerate Tata Group is about to close an agreement to acquire Apple vendor Wistron’s factory by August. With this, the conglomerate will become the first Indian manufacturer to take up iPhone assembly in the country. 

Wistron’s Karnataka factory employs about 10,000 workers who assemble iPhone14.

As per an ET report, the iPhone vendor committed to ship iPhones worth at least $1.8 Bn from the mentioned factory by the end of March 2024 to earn state-backed financial incentives.

Tata Group has been a part of iPhone assembly as it manufactures the metal body at its Tamil Nadu plant and with this acquisition, it aims to enter the entire assembly business. 

Earlier in May, it was reported that Wistron was planning to wind up its business in India and sell its Bengaluru plant to the Tata Group. Back then, the fate of the Wistron was attributed to the company’s failure to crack the country’s supply chain code. 

However, in 2020 media reports surfaced that Apple decided not to go forward with Wistron following the violence that broke out at the facility owing to allegations that the company was not paying worker dues or overtime wages for months. Wistron admitted some of the allegations and said that the company was under restructuring, owing to payment irregularities. 

In India, Apple’s vendor ecosystem witnessed several developments, with companies like Foxconn and Salcomp announcing investments and mass recruitments.

In June, Foxconn announced that it would begin iPhone manufacturing at its Karnataka’s  Devanahalli plant. It also announced a $500 Mn investment at its manufacturing facility in Telangana’s Kongar Kalaan.

In February this year, reports surfaced that Salcomp would double its workforce in India to 25,000 employees by 2026 as it ramps up operations in the country.

All this comes at a time when Apple launched two official stores in India in Mumbai and Delhi. This year, Apple reported a record $6 Mn sales from India and raised the sales target of the franchisee-owned exclusive retail stores in India by as much as 100%.