Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) has signed an agreement to fully acquire Wistron’s India entity – Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) Pvt Ltd. The deal with Wistron’s Singapore and Hong Kong arms will make Tata Group the first Indian company to manufacture Apple iPhones locally.
Wistron’s facility is based out of Bengaluru and the acquisition now awaits requisite approvals. Wistron will make necessary exchange filings on the sale. The Tata-Wistron deal was first announced on October 27, 2022.
Major Win Under PLI Scheme
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had then congratulated Tata Group on becoming India’s maiden iPhone maker, calling it an achievement of PM Modi’s visionary Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for electronics manufacturing. The scheme aims to establish India as a global electronics hub.
By acquiring Wistron’s operations, Tata Group is set to start end-to-end assembly of iPhones in India for both domestic consumers as well as exports. This adds Tata to the exclusive list of Apple contract manufacturers like Foxconn, Pegatron and Luxshare.
Early iPhone 17 Manufacturing Likely
Notable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently claimed that Tata, along with Foxconn and Pegatron, is expected to kickstart preliminary iPhone 17 manufacturing in India by late 2024 – almost a year before its 2025 launch.
This underscores Apple’s ongoing push to diversify supply chains away from over-reliance on China through partners like Tata. Developments like these significantly boost India’s importance in the global electronics value chain.
