Chennai: Googleparents Letter looks in the direction of India by shifting its production focus to drones and pixel phoneand, according to rumors, is also planning to use Foxconn at a factory situated tamil nadu.
Dixon Technologies has also been awarded a smartphone manufacturing contract but this is the first time that drones are being considered for production in India. Alphabet’s Wing is looking into making larger drones that would carry bigger packages for deliveries. The amount of investment and expected amounts have not been disclosed. Google did not respond to queries from TOI, and Tamil Nadu government officials declined to comment.
Recent discussions with the state government may result in Sriperumbudur-located electronics production hub near Chennai producing the latest Pixel smartphones in addition to drones. “It’s not only about Pixel smartphones or drones,” said someone privy to the discussion who added that Google has other products it wants to make here and choosing Tamil Nadu shows that it can provide global value support.” for products produced locally.”
Last year October, Google disclosed its decision on manufacturing Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro mobile phones in India and mentioned ongoing negotiations with both local and international producers. Two contract manufacturers – Foxconn and Pegatron – already account for over 80% of Apple’s $14 billion iPhones assembled within Tamil Nadu as estimated by industry. Tamil Nadu leads the country in mobile phone manufacturing along with Tata’s electronics business & parts ecosystem.
This move by Google came immediately after a delegation from Tamil Nadu including Industry Minister TRB Rajaa visited US along with Foxconn executives had met top-ranking executives of Google at Mountain View California. Through Foxconn company sources say they have shown interest in setting up a factory near Chennai on behalf of their client company while Google executives and representatives would meet Chief Minister Stalin to finalize manufacturing arrangements.
Currently, Pixel has negligible share in Indian smartphone market. Samsung still led with 25% market shares from January through March according to Counterpoint’s Research with Apple (19%) and Vivo (18%) following. Pixel’s global share will be less than 5% in 2023.
