Flextronics inks Memorandum of Understanding with AP to set up unit in Sri City

Amaravati: The State government on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Flextronics Technologies (India) Pvt, the Indian arm of Flex Ltd, a global American “sketch to scale” solutions provider.

The MoU is for the setting up of a manufacturing facility at Sri City near Tirupati in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh for a range of intelligent products (mobile phone components). The unit is expected to start production from August 15.

Francois Barbier, President Global Operations and Components at Flex said that they have presence in thirty countries across the world. The Flex is the third largest electronics manufacturing company in the world.

Referring to AP, he said that the ecosystem in the state was suitable to reach a more number of customers and hence the company decided to establish the manufacturing facility here. "We are here as we trust the state government," he said.

On the occasion, Minister for IT and Electronics N Lokesh said that the state had aimed to capture a lion's share of 50 per cent of electronics production in the country. He said that the electronics manufacturing business in India stood at around US $480 bn. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wanted 50 per cent of this should be in AP, he said.

Lokesh explained that within 14 months of his tenure, he had brought a number of electronics manufacturing companies to the state, including Foxconn, Dixon, Celkon and others.

The government was looking at creation of 2 lakh jobs in electronics sector. Flextronics has arrived in AP in remarkably short time, he said, adding: “The state will be in top position in manufacturing of electronics in South India. Reliance was also showing interest in setting up manufacturing facility in the State.”