Google to partner with Foxconn to manufacture Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu

Rick Osterloh, SVP, Devices and Services, Google; Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronic and Information Technology, Communications & Railways, Government of India; Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President, Google India and other executives at Google for India 2023 event

Google is in advanced talks with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to locally make Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu, people familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol.

The move comes as the tech giant looks to scale up its Pixel smartphone business in India in order to capitalise on the rising demand for premium smartphones among consumers in the world's second-largest smartphone market.

Google parent Alphabet will also start making drones through its subsidiary Wing LLC in the state. The firm currently offers a drone delivery service to businesses in the United States, Europe, and Australia, through a fleet of lightweight, autonomous delivery drones.

A Tamil Nadu delegation led by the state industry minister TRB Rajaa and other officials met with Google executives in the United States a few weeks ago, sources said.

Moneycontrol has not been able to ascertain the investment size, the timeline for rollout or the numbers of jobs that will be created through this initiative.

Google is also in talks with local contract manufacturer Dixon to make Pixel smartphones in the country, as suggested by several media reports in the past week. Moneycontrol has reached out to Google and Foxconn for a comment and will update once we hear back.

These developments come as Google rival Apple has been aggressively ramping up local production of its flagship iPhone devices in India.

Apple has assembled $14 billion worth of iPhones in the country in fiscal 2024, according to a Bloomberg report. The company now makes about 14 percent or about 1 in 7 of its iPhones in India.

Google's Make in India plan

Google had first announced its intentions to locally manufacture Pixel smartphones in India, starting with Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, in October 2023.

At the time, Google said it is in discussions with both domestic and international manufacturers for local production of its premium smartphones, without disclosing any specific details.

The company had said this initiative will help them make Pixel smartphones more widely available across the country, with the first devices expected to roll out sometime in 2024.

Read: Google to scale up its Pixel smartphone business in India amid a booming premium market

Google's move also underscores Tamil Nadu’s potential as an advanced manufacturing hub. It is a major nerve centre for the Apple's growing manufacturing ecosystem in India, with Foxconn, Pegatron and Tata’s presence.

Last year, Google partnered with personal computer (PC) maker HP to manufacture Chromebooks at a Flex facility in Chennai. This enables the company to cater to the demand for affordable PCs in India primarily from the education sector.

Tamil Nadu leads in electronics exports with $9.56 billion, almost a third of national exports.