Wistron to invest 3,000 cr in Kolar iPhone plant

Apple Inc’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp, on Tuesday, said it would invest close to Rs 3,000 crore in two phases to set up a greenfield smartphone manufacturing plant in Karnataka.

A high-level team of officials from Wistron Technologies led by its Chief of Staff Frank Lin and accompanied by A Gururaj, managing director, Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Wistron, met Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in this regard. The proposed manufacturing plant will generate around 10,000 jobs after the completion of Phase 2, official sources said.

Wistron has already acquired 43 acres of land at Narasapura industrial area, about 65 km from Bengaluru, in Kolar district. The company will commence civil work on August 15.

During the first phase of its investment, Wistron will invest Rs 650 crore and employ 2,500 persons. It will manufacture selected models of iPhone depending on the orders placed by Apple. The production will be increased based on demand from Apple, although the plant is designed to manufacture 100 million units a year. Apple intends to export iPhones produced at this factory to various markets around the world besides selling them in the Indian market.

Welcoming the company’s move, Kumaraswamy asked the company to set up a mobile repair and technology facility also in Bengaluru as there is a huge demand for technicians.

Gururaj said the proposed factory will be one of the biggest of its kind in the country and manufacture selected models of Apple iPhone and related components.

Wistron started assembling Apple’s low-priced smartphone iPhone SE at its Peenya facility in May 2017 and the product was launched in Indian markets in June 2017. Apart from manufacturing smartphones for Apple, Wistron also manufactures components and products for various other brands.

According to industry analysts, Apple is looking at manufacturing iPhone 6 or iPhone 7 Plus, which are widely used for social media, browsing the web, emails, games and watching videos. Apple is keen on manufacturing these smartphones in India as it is looking to increase its market share in the country.