The Economic Times reported on November 30 that Tata Group is negotiating with Taipei Wistron Corp, one of Apple’s top three suppliers in India, to buy its Karnataka-based manufacturing plant for Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

The deal will help Tata boost the manufacturing capabilities of group company Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) in precision engineering.

TEPL is already a component supplier for Apple’s iPhone and plans to work with other large manufacturers from South Korea and Japan as part of a “larger electronics ecosystem”.

Tata Group is also reportedly planning to form an electronics manufacturing joint venture with Wistron, Bloomberg reported in early September.

“Tatas will take the helm, but Wistron will likely retain a small part to take advantage of Apple’s global supplier ecosystem,” a person familiar with the matter told The Economic Times.

TEPL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, aims to become a large contract maker of handsets and components after group chairman N Chandrasekaran tried to capitalise on the geopolitical backlash against China and attract smartphone companies such as Apple. Operations shifted to India’s Alternative production base.

Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron are Apple’s top three suppliers in India. Apple currently manufactures iPhone SE, iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 (base model) models in India. All Pro models sold in India are imported.