Wistron Said to Sell iPhone Plant in India to Tata for $600 Million after Exit Plan Unveiled

BEIJING, July 14 (TiPost)— Wistron, the first company to make iPhones in India, could sell its iPhone factory to Tata Group, the largest conglomerate in the Southern Asia country that Apple has positioned as a key market. 

Credit：Visual China

Tata is near to settle a deal to acquire Wistron’s plant in India with a possible valuation at more than $600 million, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter. The deal, which was said to close as early as August, will make Tata the first Indian company to assemble the iPhone locally. Located in southern Karnataka state, near India’s tech hub Bengaluru, Wistron’s facility has more than 10,000 employees and assembles the latest iPhone 14 models.

Wistron doesn’t comment on any foreign media’s reports and as to all the related information, the official statement is still the final, the company later responded to Taiwan newspaper Economic Daily News.

The news of facility sales came after Wistron’s reportedly withdrawal from India. rRports in May said Wistron was winding up its business in India.

Wistron was the first of Apple’s major contract manufacturers to start making iPhone in India in 2017. The Taiwan-based manufacture and its peer Foxconn are among the top ten electronics manufacturing services players in India In 2021. However, Wistron has faced increasing headwinds these years. Its facility near Bengaluru was reported to see unrest involved about 2,000 workers broke out due to unpaid wages in December, 2020. The company estimated the ransacking caused up to $7.12 million in damage.

Wistron’s exit reflected how hard the Apple’s supplier was exploring and making profit in India even the U.S. tech giant is focusing more on the country. Reuters report back in late November 2020 that Tata was in talks with Wistron to buy its iPhone factory for up to about $613 million. Bloomberg repot in January said Tata’s takeover could value Wistron’s factory at more than $600 million.

Apple’s revenue decreased 2.5% year-over-year to $94.84billion, the first time for iPhone maker to record its second consecutive quarter decline since March, 2019. Emerging markets emerged as a bright spot as overall revenue fall. Apple said sales in countries including Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, set their quarterly record, and those in Brazil, Malaysia and India shattered March quarter records. Apple didn’t disclose sales from India, but CEO Tim Cook said, at an earnings call, that business in India had “very strong, double digits year-over-year” growth. He also said his company “had very strong ‘new to’ (sales in) emerging markets, particularly in Brazil, India and Mexico”.

iPhone generated $51.33 billion with a 1.5% year-over-year (YoY) increase in the first quarter, much better than analysts’ forecast of $48.97 billion with a decrease of 3%. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, estimated India accounts for just under 3% of Apple’s total revenue.

Indian official showed their ambitious plan to attract more production of Apple’s products, especially its key offering iPhone. Piyush Goyal, the Commerce and Industry Minister, revealed in January the tech giant was targeting to make 25% of iPhone in India. Bloomberg reported in April that Apple currently makes nearly 7% of iPhones in India, up from just 1% in 2021. Apple could work to unprecedentedly produce the next generation of iPhone series in India at the same time as in China, and could assemble a quarter of all iPhones in India by 2025, if the aggressive expansion trend of Foxconn and other suppliers lasts, according to the report. 

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