iPhone Assembler Pegatron Reportedly Readies $150m Investment in India

Apple assembly partner Pegatron's board of directors is said to have approved a proposal to spend $150 million to build a manufacturing plant in India.

The new facility is expected to begin production in the second half of next year or in early 2022, with more investments planned in the country over the next two years, reported India's Economic Times, citing unnamed executives.

Pegatron, Apple's second-largest iPhone assembler after Foxconn, registered its India subsidiary in July, and said that the global health crisis had made it hard for staff to visit India, which had resulted in delays. The facility would be the company's first to be established in the country, and would likely be involved in future iPhone assembly.

Pegatron has been cleared to take part in India's billion-dollar Production-Linked Incentive Scheme, which provides incentives on locally-produced smartphones. The Taipei-based assembler joins rival iPhone manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron, which are already signed up to the scheme.

Pegatron recently drew the ire of Apple after it was discovered that the iPhone supplier had been committing labor violations at a student workers' program at its Shanghai and Kunshan campuses in eastern China.

Apple put Pegatron on probation as a result of the violations, and while the supplier's current ‌iPhone‌ business is not expected to be affected, it could lose some iPhone 12 orders to rival Luxshare next year.