Tata is going to be the leader in making iPhone, deal done with Pegatron: Report

Tata Electronics has agreed to buy a majority stake in Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron’s only iPhone plant in India, forming a new joint venture, sources said. The move will strengthen Tata as an Apple supplier. Here we are telling you about it in detail.

Under the deal struck internally last week, Tata will hold a 60 percent stake and handle operations under the joint venture, while Pegatron will hold the rest and provide technical support, two sources said (who declined to be named as the information has not yet been made public). Sources did not elaborate on the financial conditions of the deal. Tata Group has not commented on this, while Apple and Pegatron did not respond to Reuters’ questions on Sunday. Reuters first reported in April that Pegatron had received Apple’s support. It is in talks to sell its only iPhone plant in India to Tata.

Apple is looking to expand its supply chain beyond China amid geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. For Tata, the Chennai Pegatron plant will boost its iPhone manufacturing plans. Tata is rapidly expanding in iPhone manufacturing and is competing with Foxconn, the only other iPhone contract manufacturer operational in India. Both companies are planning to apply for CCI approval in the coming days.

Tata already runs an iPhone assembly plant in Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan’s Wistron last year. Apart from this, it is also planning another in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, where it also has an iPhone component plant. Let us tell you that India will have a share of 20-25 percent in total iPhone shipments this year, which was 12-14 percent last year. The Tata-Pegatron plant has about 10 thousand employees, which makes 5 million iPhones annually, will be Tata’s third iPhone factory in India.