New Delhi:

Apple Inc’s Taiwanese provider Pegatron Corp is in talks to open a second India manufacturing unit, stated two sources with direct information of the matter, because the U.S. tech big’s companions proceed to diversify manufacturing away from China.

Pegatron plans so as to add a second facility close to the southern metropolis of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, simply six months after opening the primary with an funding of $150 million, stated the sources, who sought anonymity because the talks are non-public.

The new manufacturing unit, the primary supply stated, is “to assemble the latest iPhones”.

Pegatron declined to remark however stated, “Any acquisition of assets will be disclosed based on regulations.”

Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark.

India is seen as the following development frontier for Apple. Around $9 billion value of smartphones have been exported from India between April 2022 and February this yr, and iPhones accounted for greater than 50% of that, in response to the India Cellular and Electronics Association.

Pegatron presently accounts for 10% of Apple’s iPhone manufacturing in India on an annualised foundation, analysis agency Counterpoint stated.

Apple and its key suppliers have been shifting manufacturing away from China as they search to keep away from a possible hit to enterprise from mounting Sino-U.S. commerce frictions. In current years, Pegatron has sought to develop its footprint in Southeast Asia and North America.

The talks for beginning a second Pegatron facility on lease are ongoing and it will likely be situated inside Mahindra World City close to Chennai, simply round the place the corporate inaugurated the primary plant in September 2022.

Pegatron’s deliberate funding outlay for the enlargement shouldn’t be instantly clear. The first supply, nevertheless, stated the brand new manufacturing unit will probably be smaller than the primary one.

Apple Inc has wager massive on the South Asian nation because it started iPhone meeting within the nation in 2017 through Wistron and later Foxconn, in step with the Indian authorities’s push for native manufacturing.

India is the second largest smartphone market on the planet, the place Apple additionally plans to assemble iPad tablets and AirPods.

India’s Karnataka state stated this week it has accepted a $968 million funding by Foxconn, resulting in the creation of fifty,000 jobs.

Last week, Reuters reported Foxconn has plans to construct a $200 million manufacturing unit in India to provide the wi-fi earphones for Apple after profitable a contract. It already assembles some iPhone fashions at its plant situated in Tamil Nadu.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)