Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi today announced three more smartphone manufacturing plants in India. The company also announced its first SMT (Surface Mount Technology) plant dedicated towards local manufacturing of PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) units in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, in partnership with Foxconn.
The company also manufactures smartphones at its power bank plant in partnership with Hipad Technology in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, resulting in a total of six smartphone manufacturing plants in the country.
“In 2015, we extended our long-term commitment to the Indian market by joining the 'Make in India' programme. Today we are deepening this commitment with three more smartphone factories and our first SMT plant dedicated towards local manufacturing of PCBA units,” said Manu Jain, Vice President, Xiaomi Global and Managing Director, Xiaomi India.
The announcements were made at Xiaomi’s first ever Supplier Investment Summit in India where the company is hosting over 50 global smartphone component suppliers to educate them about the Indian manufacturing ecosystem, with the aim of helping them to set up local manufacturing units in the country.
If all the suppliers set base in India, this would potentially bring in an added investment of over 15,000 crore rupees ($2.5 billion) and create as many as 50,000 job opportunities in India, the company said.
The three new smartphone plants are located across campuses in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh and a new campus in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu with a total campus area of 180 acres. The factories with Foxconn now employ more than 10,000 people, of which more than 95 per cent are females.
PCBA is one of the most important components of the smartphone, and contributes to nearly 50 per cent of the value of the phone. Xiaomi expects to ramp up its PCBA production to close to 100 per cent of its locally produced phones within third quarter of 2018.
Xiaomi’s first smartphone plant was built in partnership with Foxconn in 2015, followed by its second plant in March 2017, and its first powerbank plant (in partnership with Hipad Technologies) in November 2017. To date, over 95% of Xiaomi smartphones sold in India are made in India.
With an overall market share of 26.8 per cent as per Q4 IDC Quarterly Smartphone Tracker, 2017, Xiaomi leads the Indian smartphone market. The company also leads the online smartphone segment with 57 per cent market share and stands at the second spot in the offline space with 11.2 per cent market share as per Q4 IDC Quarterly Smartphone Tracker, 2017.
