Three workers die at Tata Electronics’ iPhone parts plant in India
Three contract workers have died after inhaling gas at Tata Electronics’ component factory in Hosur, southern India. The plant supplies parts for Apple’s iPhones, and the incident adds to a series of problems at the site.
According to Reuters, which cites district official Dinesh Kumar, the workers were inspecting a nano-filtration tank at the factory’s wastewater treatment plant on Monday evening. That part of the site is run by Nalco Water, an Ecolab subsidiary. Neither Tata, Apple nor Nalco Water responded to the news agency’s questions.
Apple, Tata and the authorities in Tamil Nadu will all look into what happened, state officials and industry sources told Reuters. The state’s industries minister has promised a thorough investigation, with action taken depending on what it finds. Production was not affected, as the factory was closed for Deepavali.
It’s the latest in a string of incidents at the Hosur site. In 2024, a fire stopped production at the component plant, and this year the state threatened to close the site over suspected groundwater pollution, before dropping the case. A ransomware attack on the neighbouring iPhone assembly plant, in the same compound, also led to leaked documents about the then-unreleased iPhone 18 Pro, Reuters has reported.
India now makes about a quarter of all iPhones, and Tata Electronics accounts for around 40% of the country’s iPhone assembly, according to Reuters. Foxconn handles the rest.
