Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron that assembles Apple devices among other brands, plans to pump in USD 165 million (INR 1300 crore) in its new production facility that is coming up just outside Bengaluru, popularly known as India’s Silicon Valley.
The development comes at a time when American tech giant Apple is reportedly looking at shifting 20% of its production capacity to India from China. The Cupertino-headquartered company aims to drive up its local manufacturing revenues to around USD 40 billion over the next five years in the world’s second-most populous country. The largest beneficiaries of Apple’s change of plans are going to be its contract manufacturers in India, Foxconn and Wistron. To that effect, Wistron seems to be already gearing up to capture the upcoming opportunity.
Local media Economic Times (ET), citing company sources, said Wistron’s investment is strategic as it is already seeing increasing interest from its clients, including Apple, in manufacturing in India.
In February, Wistron began assembly of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for iPhones. Prior to that, the company assembled only low-cost iPhone model SE as well as 6S and 7 devices in its facility in Peenya, an industrial neighborhood near Bengaluru. A Reuters report at the time said the contract manufacturer was setting up a second plant in Narasapura, one of the largest industrial regions in the Southern state of Karnataka, with which it would be able to produce eight million smartphones annually.
The Taipei-headquartered company had invested INR 1600 crore (USD 212 million) last September in its upcoming plant in Narasapura, where it had bought a 43-acre land. According to the company executive, only 40% of that land has been utilized, which means Wistron has ample room to grow its production capability in the country.
Meanwhile, India is reportedly developing a land pool of about 461,589 hectares, nearly double the size of Luxembourg, to woo businesses moving out of China. In April, the Indian government had reached out to more than 1,000 US-based companies, offering incentives for manufacturers who were seeking to reduce their dependency on China by shifting their production facilities elsewhere.