Pegatron is reportedly in talks to hand over its only iPhone manufacturing facility in India to the Tata Group, the Taiwanese firm's latest scale back of its Apple partnership. The deal, if it goes through, will see Tata holding at least a 65% stake in a joint venture that will operate the Pegatron plant near Chennai, with the Taiwanese firm providing technical support and holding the rest. The deal has Apple's backing, according to a report.
Tata will reportedly operate the joint venture through its Tata Electronics unit. The Pegatron plant employs nearly 10,000 employees and makes 5 million iPhones annually. It is the last such facility operated by the firm after it forfeited control of an iPhone plant in China last year to rival Luxshare in a $290 million deal.
The development comes as Apple is increasingly looking to diversify its supply chain beyond China amid geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. For Tata, the Chennai Pegatron plant will bolster its iPhone manufacturing plans.
Tata already operates an iPhone assembly plant in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, which it took over from Taiwan's Wistron last year, and is also building another in Hosur in Tamil Nadu, where Pegatron is likely to emerge as its joint venture partner. Pegatron has for months also been building another iPhone factory at its Chennai campus, and the Tata deal talks include taking over that facility as well, a source said.
