With 44 IT hardware manufacturers including global PC makers registering to manufacture laptops, tablets and PCs in India last month, Samsung has become the latest OEM to begin assembling laptops locally, says a report by Mint published on Tuesday. The South Korean tech giant will manufacture close to 70,000 devices at its plant in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh which currently manufactures smartphones, the report added citing two people familiar with the development.
Samsung's facility in Greater Noida is currently dedicated to mobile phone production. It has been expanded to house a new laptop manufacturing unit with an annual capacity of producing 60,000- 70,000 units, the Mint report noted. The facility will house additional manufacturing lines which will be used to produce laptops.
The laptop manufacturing capacity requires an investment of about Rs 100- Rs 200 crore, the report added, citing a person who sought anonymity.
In July 2018, Samsung set up, what is the world's largest mobile factory in Noida, India. One of the first electronics manufacturing factories set up in the country in the early 1990s, the plant started manufacturing TVs in 1997. The mobile phone manufacturing unit was added in 2005.
Meanwhile, the central government recently loosened its planned restrictions on imports of laptops, PCs and tablets, in a big relief for manufacturers like Apple, HP, Dell and Lenovo, among others. India is calling off restrictions on the compulsory licensing requirement for tech importers and will instead only ask such companies to register under its so-called import management system, people familiar with the policy said, according to news agency Bloomberg.
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More than 40 IT hardware manufacturers registered to manufacture laptops, tablets and personal computers in the country in August. The Centre had fixed August 30 as the last date for manufacturing IT hardware under Rs 17,000-crore PLI scheme. According to Counterpoint Research, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple and Acer were the five leading brands in the personal computer segment in the June 2023 quarter.