It is reported that India's Tata Group wants to become a contract manufacturer for Apple's iPhone and plans to set up a joint venture factory with Weitong Capital.
CTOnews.com, September 9 (Xinhua)-- India's leading Tata Group is in talks with Taiwan-based supplier Weitong to set up a joint venture to assemble Apple's iPhone phones in India, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
So far, Apple, Tata Group and Weituang Capital have not commented.
According to people familiar with the matter, the talks with Wituang Capital are aimed at making Tata a force in technology manufacturing, and the Indian corporate giant hopes to capitalize on its expertise in product development, supply chain and assembly. If the deal succeeds, Tata will become the first Indian company to produce iPhone.
It is said that details such as the structure and ownership of the deal have not yet been finalised and negotiations are under way, which could require Tata to acquire a stake in Weitong's Indian operations, or the two companies could build a new assembly plant. People familiar with the matter believe they may also implement both measures at the same time.
People familiar with the matter also said that the goal of the new joint venture is to eventually increase the number of iPhone assemblies by up to five times the number of assemblies Willon currently has in India. The partnership could also give Mumbai-based Tata part of its manufacturing business other than smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter.
CTOnews.com learned that Tata Group is the largest group company in India, including 96 companies in seven departments, operating in more than 40 countries on six continents, and its products are exported to 140 countries in aviation, automotive, fast consumer products, chemicals, defense aerospace, power distribution systems, engineering, finance, medical care, information, railway locomotives, real estate, steel, communications and other fields.
According to public sources, the Tata Group is named after its founder, Jamshidji Tata, and members of his family have almost always served as chairman of the group. The chairman of the group during the transition period is Ratan Tata.
Weitong Capital is one of the assemblers of Apple's iPhone SE and iPhone 6s smartphones. Later, Lixun Precision announced the acquisition of part of Wittron's iPhone business for $472 million, making it Apple's first contract manufacturer in mainland China.
