Indian outfit Tata is reportedly getting ready to take over an iPhone manufacturing plant — making it the first Indian-owned plant of its kind.
The plant is currently owned by Taiwanese company Wistron, with the pair said to be working on getting a deal over the line before the end of March. It's thought that Tata is now in line to take over the majority share of a joint venture between the two companies. It'll also oversee manufacturing.
An Indian first
Bloomberg reports that the reason Tata wants to take over the plant before the end of March is simple — it's when a chunk of money is set to be handed out.
"The Indian conglomerate aims to complete a due diligence process by March 31 so that its Tata Electronics arm can formally take over Wistron's position in a program that gives it government incentives," Bloomberg notes. "The next cycle of incentives will begin from April 1, which marks the start of India's financial year."
The news comes as Apple further diversifies its iPhone supply chain to reduce its reliance on Chinese and Taiwanese companies and labor. Apple's iPhone supplies have been hit thanks to ongoing COVID-19 concerns in China recently, with one Foxconn factory also experiencing worker riots. Things got so bad at the Zhengzhou plant that Apple had to get involved. It didn't help that the plant is the only one on the planet that assembles Apple's best iPhone — the iPhone 14 Pro.
While it isn't immediately clear what impact Tata's ownership of this southern Indian plant will have on Apple, it is far from the only one in the country. Wistron is just one of three Taiwanese iPhone manufacturers currently operating in India — Pegatron and Foxconn are the others. This factory is thought to employ as many as 10,000 workers across eight iPhone production lines.
