Two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Pegatron was in talks to hand over control of India’s only iPhone manufacturing facility to Tata Group, adding to the Taiwanese company’s recent break with Apple.
Under the Apple-backed deal, Tata will own at least 65 percent of the joint venture that will operate the Pegatron factory near Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and the Taiwanese company will provide the technology. The rest will be supported and suspended, one person said.
Tata, one of India’s largest companies, plans to operate the joint venture through its Tata Electronics unit, the second person said.
Pegatron’s Indian factory employs about 10,000 people and produces 5 million iPhones per year. This will be the last facility the company operates after it handed over control of the iPhone factory in China to Luxshare in a $290 million (around ₹2,415 crore) deal last year.
Tata and Pegatron did not respond to emailed requests for comment. Apple declined to comment. The sources declined to disclose financial details of the ongoing negotiations.
Amid geopolitical tensions between China and the United States, Apple is increasingly looking to diversify its supply chain beyond China. For Tata India, the Pegatron factory in Chennai will boost iPhone production plans.
Tata already operates an iPhone assembly plant in the southern state of Karnataka, which it acquired from Taiwan’s Wistron last year, and is building another plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, with Pegatron as a potential joint venture partner.
Pegatron has been building another iPhone factory at its Chennai campus for several months. Contract discussions with Tata include taking over the plant, the person said.
Talks between Tata and Pegatron on the facility are expected to be completed within six months and all Pegatron India employees will be transferred to the joint venture, the first person added.
Apple’s iPhone contract manufacturers in India currently include Tata, Pegatron and Foxconn. Tata is key to Apple’s expansion ambitions in India, and analysts expect the country to account for 20 to 25 percent of total iPhone shipments, up 12 to 14 percent from last year.
The reason for Pegatron’s gradual exit from Apple’s business, including India, is unclear. Pegatron said last year that the deal with the Chinese factory was made to raise capital to “optimize its operations.”
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.