Foxconn Technology Group will begin manufacturing Xiaomi smartphones in Andhra Pradesh on a small scale, The Economic Times reported.
This will be the company’s second stint in the country after it had shut its Nokia manufacturing in Chennai.
Foxconn, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer, has leased an old Pepsi building in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, which is around 55 km north of Chennai. It will produce around 10,000 Xiaomi smartphones per day.
The Taiwan-based company is also looking at other states, such as Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, to build 10-12 factories over the next five years.
With India being one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world, it provides a huge opportunity for phone makers such as Samsung, LG, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Apple and Microsoft, some of which are Foxconn customers.
Foxconn is known for manufacturing Apple’s iPhones and iPads, as well as Amazon’s Kindle e-book readers. In addition, it manufactures equipment for top technology companies such as HP, Cisco and Dell.
Foxconn had to shut down its Nokia phone-making facility near Chennai in December 2014 after it ran into a tax dispute with the authorities.
