Dixon scales up production, eyes 12 million smartphone exports for Motorola, Google, Transsion Group

Transsion Group, the maker of iTel, Tecno and Infinix devices, has also begun exporting smartphones from Dixon’s India facility to African markets.

Dixon Technologies is ramping up its smartphone manufacturing capacity by 50% to meet surging export demand from global clients such as Motorola, Google Pixel, and Transsion Group, with a strategic focus on North American and African markets. The expansion comes amid a shifting geopolitical landscape, as brands seek to diversify their supply chains.

“We are expanding capacity by 50% from our current levels so that our anchor customers can meet their increased order book. A large part of it will be due to exports to North America in light of the evolving geopolitical scenario,” Atul Lall, managing director of Dixon Technologies, said during the Q4 conference call on May 20. "Our largest customer, Motorola, has really done well, and now we have a large export opportunity with them.​

“For Compal, the volumes are expected to increase for large US brands with potential export opportunities.”

Dixon manufactures Google Pixel smartphones through its ODM partnership with Compal.

Transsion Group, the maker of iTel, Tecno and Infinix devices, has also begun exporting smartphones from Dixon’s India facility to African markets.

“For Transsion brands, we have started exporting to Africa. They have a share in many markets as high as 80% in Africa. So we have already started exporting. We feel that in the current year, we should make almost two million exports,” he said.

Overall, Dixon aims to export between 10 million and 12 million smartphones.

“That means quantity should expand significantly in 2026-27. Because that is what we want to crack. That our cost comparativeness is globally comparable. Now, after acquiring a very large share of the domestic market, we are attempting to get into. That is what we are aspiring to,” Lall said.

Ismartu India, a subsidiary of Transsion Technology Limited, is part of a joint venture with Dixon, where the company holds a majority stake.

“An increasing focus will be on deepening the level of manufacturing by getting into components in the JV with them [Ismartu]. We have started manufacturing for a new partner, NXTcell, to manufacture a smartphone for Alcatel in our recent order book,” he added.

Dixon is also pursuing FDI approval for its proposed joint venture with Vivo and expects to secure it within the next five to six months.

“We have already signed a binding term sheet with Vivo and the teams are working upon the definitive agreement and very shortly we will be filing our applications for PN3. Now this PM3 waiver with the government, it is a long process, it involves a huge inter-ministerial work. So, what we have targeted is that this approval should come sometime in next five to six months,” Lall said.

He added that full-scale production under the Vivo JV is expected to commence in FY26- 27. “Vivo’s total output is around 28-30 million. As per our term sheet, 67% has to be done in JV. So, we are expecting around 18 million to 20 million to come in the JV.”

Meanwhile, construction is underway for Dixon’s display module facility in partnership with HKC. In its first phase, focusing on mobile phones and IT hardware, mass production is expected to begin by the end of this fiscal year. Initial capacity of two million displays per month will be scaled up to four million, with additional capacity for two million laptop displays.

Following the government’s announcement of the component PLI scheme, Dixon is in active discussions with technology partners for manufacturing camera modules, lithium-ion batteries, and enclosures.

The company is also building a new one-million-square-foot mobile manufacturing plant in Noida.

Its dedicated IT hardware facility in Chennai has completed pilot runs, and mass production is underway. The company is ramping up production for HP and Asus, and production for Lenovo has reached 30,000 units per month with a strong order pipeline.

Additionally, Dixon is entering a 60:40 joint venture with Taiwan-based ODM Inventec to manufacture notebooks, PCs, servers, and components such as SSDs, memory, and power supplies in India.

“We are in process of finalizing the manufacturing facility in Chennai adjacent to our current facility. We are also exploring opportunities for localizing mechanical enclosures for IT hardware under ECM scheme,” Lall said.

Dixon, he said, is awaiting the rollout of ISM 2.0 to proceed with its plans for a $3-billion display fab unit.  "We are not very sure of the timelines for ISM 2.0. The foray is hinging upon the rollout of ISM 2.0 and what that policy framework is going to be like," he said.