Japan's TDK To Manufacture Li-ion Cells For iPhones In Haryana: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

TDK, a leading supplier of cells to Apple, is setting up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana to build cells for batteries, Chandrasekhar said.

TDK Corp, a Japanese electronic parts manufacturer, will produce lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cells for Apple iPhone devices in India, the government announced on Monday. The move is likely to generate thousands of jobs and is being seen as a boost to the country's product linked incentive (PLI) scheme and mobile device manufacturing in India. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar made the announcment on X, formerly Twitter.

"Another big win for PM @narendramodi ji's visionary PLI scheme in shifting the mobile manufacturing ecosystem to India. TDK, a leading supplier of cells to Apple, is setting up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana to build cells for batteries which will be used in the #MadeInIndia iPhones. Several 1000 new jobs will be created and increase in domestic value addition. Congratulations Apple, TDK team and @cmohry Haryana govt for enabling GoIs goal of  deepening Electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India," the MoS posted.

Notably, Cupertino, California headquartered Apple is touting India as a growth catalyst as it aims to shift a portion of its production away from China.

Japanese firm TDK is set to establish a manufacturing facility in the northern state of Haryana, generating thousands of new jobs, according to Chandrasekhar, says a report by news agency Reuters, citing Business Standard.

Battery cells made at the unit will be supplied to Apple's li-ion battery assembler Sunwoda Electronics, the report added.

This development comes at a time when Apple is likely to witness lower shipments of its devices such as Apple Watches, iPads, Macs and AirPods, but an estimated growth in iPhone shipments in India. Mac shipments are expected to decline in the range of 15 per cent to 18 per cent in calendar year 2023, as per analysts from Counterpoint Research. iPad shipments are estimated to fall 6 per cent to 8 per cent.

Apple iPhone shipments are set to double, at a time when the overall smartphone market is poised to shrink 2 per cent. With 152 million smartphones sold in the calendar year 2022, a 2 per cent decline would result in approximately 149 million units sold in 2023. Apple constituted around 6 per cent of the total sales, accounting for approximately 8.9 million units, the said a previous report by ET.