Google plans to fabricate its flagship Pixel 8 smartphone in India, CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned Thursday, becoming a member of a rising listing of worldwide tech firms limiting their provide chains’ dependence on China.
Pichai’s announcement follows U.S. tech rival Apple’s launch final month of its newest iPhone, together with models made in India, as tech giants goal the South Asian nation’s fast-expanding market and ample provide of low cost expert labor.
“We shared plans at #GoogleforIndia (event on Thursday) to manufacture Pixel smartphones locally and expect the first devices to roll out in 2024,” Pichai mentioned on X, previously often known as Twitter.
Pichai added that Google appreciated the “support for Make in India” – a flagship coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities, providing quicker business clearances and monetary incentives for manufacturing items within the nation.
New Delhi has ramped up its manufacturing and exports of cellphones and different digital items because the scheme was launched.
India’s cell phone exports nearly doubled to $8.5 billion year-on-year in 2022-23, in response to official figures.
Google senior vp Rick Osterloh mentioned the agency sees “an even greater opportunity to make Pixel smartphones available to more people” in India.
“In recent years, India has established itself as a truly world-class hub for manufacturing, resulting in a thriving environment for businesses to flourish,” Osterloh mentioned in an announcement.
The firm supposed to “start with the Pixel 8 and will partner with international and domestic manufacturers to produce Pixel smartphones locally,” he added.
India, dwelling to the second-highest variety of smartphone customers after China, has set a goal of manufacturing about $300 billion value of native electronics and smartphones by 2025-26.
Google already has important investments within the nation and in addition partnered with Reliance Jio, owned by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, on a 4G-enabled, low-cost smartphone for the native market.
Earlier this yr, Taiwanese electronics large Foxconn, the world’s greatest contract electronics producer and a principal assembler of iPhones, purchased an enormous tract of land on the outskirts of India’s tech hub of Bengaluru.
It was seen as part of Apple’s push into India – the world’s most populous and fastest-growing main economic system – and its efforts to diversify manufacturing away from China.
Electronics large Samsung additionally runs the world’s largest cell phone manufacturing facility on the outskirts of New Delhi, with a capability of about 120 million models per yr.
Source: www.dailysabah.com