Tata Group to buy iPhone making facility in India; Know all details

Tata Group could buy Wistron’s iPhone manufacturing facility in Bengaluru as part of a new deal.

Tata Group in talks with Wistron to buy iPhone factory in India. (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

Tata Group could end up buying Wistron's iPhone manufacturing facility in India. Based on a new report by The Economic Times, it is said that the Tata Group is in talks with Taipei's Wistron Corp to buy its manufacturing facility in Karnataka for a sum of Rs. 5000 crore. Wistron's facility is one of Apple's top manufacturing vendors in India for its popular iPhone smartphones. There have been rumours of the Tata Group eyeing a share of the iPhone manufacturing scene in India for a while now, with a Government official hinting at the same.

Wistron is one of the key manufacturers for Apple in India, joining forces with Foxconn to manage the demand for iPhones in India and several global markets. Wistron, however, has been reportedly suffering losses and a pact with the Tata Group could help its case in India. Additionally, with rumours of Apple intending to double down on the iPhone manufacturing capacity in India, this buyout could prove to be highly successful.

Tata Group in talks with iPhone manufacturer

With the recent geopolitical issues surrounding the manufacturing facilities of Foxconn in China, Apple has been urging them to move base to India and other countries. This year alone, Foxconn started manufacturing the standard iPhone 14 in India just a month after it went on sale in China. By 2025, reports suggest that Apple could see 25 percent of its global iPhone manufacturing happening in India.

At the moment, Apple's India manufacturing scene only caters to the iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max variants are still manufactured in China and are imported to India as well as other countries. Manufacturing in India hasn't seen Apple slashing the prices of the iPhone in years though.

At the moment, the supply chain issues and the manufacturing facility unrests in China have led Apple to announce major delays with the iPhone 14 Pro series production. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have seen huge demand this year, with Apple unable to meet the demand. Apple is currently unable to deliver new iPhone 14 Pro models before the end of 2022. The standard iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, on the other hand, have been available in plenty and are seeing lesser demand this year.