In a landmark development, Wistron, the Taiwanese multinational corporation, has officially announced the sale of its stake in Wistron InfoComm to Tata Electronics for a significant $125 million. This strategic move sets the stage for the Tata Group to become the first Indian company to produce iPhones within the country.
This momentous development was confirmed by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s Minister of State for Information Technology, who took to the X platform (formerly Twitter) to extend his congratulations to the Tata team for taking over the operations previously managed by Wistron. In his post, he also expressed gratitude to Wistron for its contributions and commended Apple for establishing a global supply chain from India, with Indian companies at the helm.
Furthermore, Rajeev Chandrasekhar acknowledged the instrumental role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India’s journey to becoming a trusted and significant hub for smartphone manufacturing and exports. He credited the PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme, which was introduced in 2021, for accelerating India’s status as a manufacturing powerhouse.
The PLI scheme is designed to bolster domestic manufacturing, generate employment opportunities, and promote exports across 14 sectors, including large-scale electronics manufacturing, with a substantial allocation of Rs 1.97 lakh crore.
This exciting development in the smartphone manufacturing landscape comes at a time when Apple is experiencing a surge in demand.
According to a report by Canalys, Apple has shipped 50 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2023, achieving a remarkable 17 percent market share. This impressive growth is attributed to the strong initial demand for the iPhone 15 series, which comes with a notable USB-C upgrade.
Foxconn, another key supplier of Apple iPhones, has earlier unveiled ambitious plans to double its workforce and investment in India by the next year.
The Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics, has been actively expanding its presence in India by investing in manufacturing facilities in the southern region of the country. Already operating an iPhone factory in the state of Tamil Nadu, which employs 40,000 people, Foxconn’s commitment to India underscores the nation’s growing importance in global electronics manufacturing.
Wistron earlier informed that its revenue in the first half of 2023 was NT$419,477 million, operating income was NT$10,059 million, profit before tax (PBT) was NT$8,804 million and profit after tax (PAT) was NT$3,432 million, with EPS of NT$1.23.
With Tata Electronics now stepping into the iPhone production arena, India’s position as a significant player in the global smartphone manufacturing industry continues to strengthen, and the nation’s trajectory toward becoming a global manufacturing hub remains on a promising path.
