Wistron, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer with links to Apple, is in the process of selling its iPhone assembly unit to the Tata Group in Kolar, near Bengaluru, India. This marks an exit from India, as Apple’s other contract makers Foxconn and Pegatron increase their presence.
Wistron first established an iPhone assembly unit in India in 2017, and was the first of the three global contract manufacturers for Apple to do so. However, it could not break into Apple’s deeper supply chain mechanisms, such as component manufacturing and vendor-managed inventory holding, contributing to its necessity to exit the market.
The departing of Wistron from India comes as new iPhone 15 models are being tested by Tata Group. With the growing presence of contract makers like Foxconn and Pegatron, there is increased competition in India’s second largest smartphone market.
Wistron is a leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company in the world, offering a full-range of manufacturing services to supply electronic products. It provides its services for notable companies such as Apple, Acer, Accton, Primax, and Lenovo. The company was founded in Taiwan in 2001 as an EMS provider for the communication and consumer products industries.
Terry Gou, the founder and chairman of Wistron, got his start in the electronic manufacturing services industry in the early 1970s and has since grown to become a leader in the EMS industry. Gou is also a successful entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He was inducted into the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Hall of Fame in 2015 for his contributions to the semiconductor industry and earned his mentor-ship award from the Asian Institute of Technology’s Industry Advisory Board in 2019.
