Foxconn set to open its first iPhone assembly plant in Bengaluru in April

The key Apple supplier will create a capacity that can assemble 20 million iPhones annually at the assembly unit in Karnataka

Foxconn is set to open its first iPhone assembly plant in Bengaluru in April next year. According to a report in The Economic Times (ET), the key Apple supplier is creating a capacity to assemble 20 million smartphones annually at the plant. 

The assembly unit will be set up at the 300-acre campus at the IT investment region (ITIR) near the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. A source said that the work on the assembly unit is progressing and right on schedule. 

In March this year, the government had cleared the proposal of the Taiwanese technology group to invest $1 billion to set up the iPhone factory. However, the company later increased the investment by an additional $1.7 billion.

 

According to the ET report, the company will use the additional investment amount to fund the set up of assembly facilities and housing units for workers.

M B Patil, Minister of Infrastructure Development of Karnataka, said, "We remain fully committed to ensuring the high-profile project meets its completion timelines. I am personally overseeing that there are no obstacles."

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Patil further said that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made it clear that "there cannot be any delay with regard to clearances by individual departments as the investment by Foxconn has been cleared at the highest level".

Patil said, "Investors should feel ease-of-doing-business in Karnataka in a true sense." He added that there had been minor issues related to land, but he was personally involved to get them resolved. "Foxconn intends to fast-pace their project and start its manufacturing activities early," the minister said.

The company — also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, will build the plant in three stages and has paid Rs 90 crore, comprising 30 per cent of the land cost to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). The company has also asked for five million litres of water a day.