A security guard stands behind a Tata logo.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
The Tata Group's existing iPhone-casing unit in Hosur is likely to be expanded to twice its size in the coming months.
According to a report by Economic Times, the Tata Electronics-owned Hosur unit is currently spread across 500 acres. Built at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore, the plant currently employs around 15,000 people.
With the planned expansion, this plant is projected to employ 25,000 to 28,000 people, people familiar with the matter told ET.
"The new facility could be entirely for Apple phone components, but I would not rule out the possibility of it being used to manufacture components for other high-end phones of other companies as well," the publication quoted a source as saying.
The development comes shortly after the Tata Group's acquisition of Wistron's iPhone assembly plant in Karnataka's Kolar district, a deal that made the conglomerate India's first indigenous iPhone maker.
With Tata looking to significantly expand its manufacturing of high-end electronic items, a technology market analyst told ET that the expansion also coincides with Apple's larger strategy of manufacturing more smartphones in India, something that the company has been focusing on as it seeks to diversify manufacturing from China.
It also comes following Apple's overtaking of Samsung as the largest smartphone exporter from India in the second quarter this year.
In September, the Cupertino-based company had 49 per cent share of India's 12 million smartphone shipments, with Samsung having 45 per cent.
Further, it also comes at a time when Apple's exports from India have grown considerably—according to ET, Apple exported iPhones worth over $5 billion in the first seven months of FY24 from India, registered a year-on-year-growth of a whopping 177 per cent.