Tata to take over Pegatron's iPhone assembly plant?
Speculation is rising that Taiwan's Pegatron is in talks to hand over control of its Indian iPhone manufacturing facility to the Tata Group.
According to rumours, Tata will take a 65% stake in a joint venture that will manage the plant near Chennai city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Pegatron will retain the remaining share.
If the speculation is verified, then it will be further evidence of Pegatron's withdrawal from the Indian market. Last year, it sold its Pegaglobe iPhone assembly plant to Luxshare.
The Chennai factory employs around 10,000 and assembles 5 million iPhones a year. For Tata, the deal will bolster its ambitious iPhone manufacturing plans. It currently operates a plant in Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan's Wistron last year, and is also constructing a second Tamil Nadu facility in Hosur.
And earlier this year Tata announced a joint project with Taiwan’s Power Chip to establish a fab in the Dholera region of Gujarat. It expects to produce 50,000 wafers per month and 3 billion chips a year with completion is expected in three to four years. It also confirmed a USD 3.2 billion assembly, test and packaging unit in Assam. It will produce 48 million chips per day.
