Tata may acquire Apple's Wistron production plant to produce iPhones

Tata may soon acquire Apple's Wistron production facility in India to make iPhones. According to news reports, the Tata group is currently in talks with Taiwan's Wistron to purchase its manufacturing facility for up to Rs. 5,000 crores (612.6 million dollars). Both Apple's Wistron and Tata have refused to divulge details about it. The Wistron plant that Tata is considering is in Karnataka.

According to the Economic Times report, Tata is looking to acquire Wistron in a deal of Rs 5000 crore. If it goes through, Tata will be the first Indian company to manufacture iPhones in India, which is currently run by Taiwanese manufacturers such as Wistron, Foxconn and Pegatron. Wistron started manufacturing iPhones in 2017

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Tata was looking to set up a joint electronics manufacturing unit with Wistron to make iPhones in the country. Apple currently has three manufacturing plants in India: Wistron, Pegatron, and Foxconn.

Apple recently announced it would start manufacturing the newly launched iPhone 14 at Foxconn's Sriperumbudur facility in Chennai. "We are excited to manufacture iPhone 14 in India," the company said in an official statement. "The new iPhone 14 lineup features innovative new technologies and important security capabilities," the company told the publication. Foxconn is one of many iPhone 14 makers in India. Pegatron recently began assembling the device in India.

To recall, Apple already makes several iPhones in India, including the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and iPhone SE in India.

On a related note, the production of iPhone 14 Pro models has been dramatically affected due to the ongoing stress at the company's Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China. Over 20,000 employees left the manufacturer a day after violent protests happened at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant in China. The workers expressed discontent with the working conditions, which later turned into protests in recent days.