Today, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi trumpeted his country’s potential in technology, saying the country aims to increase its electronics sector to $500 billion by the end of the decade.

Modi touted the country’s advantages in areas such as semiconductors as he addressed a chip conference on the outskirts of capital New Delhi on Wednesday. The country currently estimates its electronics market at about $155 billion.

India is trying to woo more chipmakers into the country, much the same way subsidies have encouraged Apple Inc. to assemble $14 billion in iPhones in the South Asian nation.

Modi’s administration has so far approved more than $15 billion worth of semiconductor investments. These include a proposal by conglomerate Tata Group to build the country’s first major chip plant and US memory maker Micron Technology Inc.’s envisioned $2.75 billion assembly facility in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is seeking to partner with billionaire Gautam Adani for a $10 billion fabrication plant in western India. BNN Bloomberg.

To get some buzz out of this push by Modi, a rumor report not so coincidentally emerged to claim that Apple was in talks with the Tata Group and Micron for major chip purchase from India.

According to India’s Financial Express, “Apple has begun negotiations with Micron, the Tata Group and other chip manufacturers setting up plants in India for sourcing supplies worth $12 billion for the iPhones it produces in the country.

The negotiations are significant because Apple’s requirement for semiconductors would touch this level by 2026, according to industry experts. By then, the tech giant would have shifted 26% of its global iPhone capacity to India.

If Micron and Tata Group’s units, which are expected to go on stream by then, manufacture the grades needed by Apple, the bulk of this requirement would be sourced from these firms, creating a huge business opportunity for them, sources said.

In FY24, Apple produced iPhones worth $14 billion in India — the largest by any company. This constitutes approximately 14% of Apple’s global iPhone production.

According to publicly available estimates, Apple’s global semiconductor consumption increased over threefold from $18.8 billion in 2011 to cross $67 billion in 2022. Currently, it stands at around $72 billion. Apple produces multiple high-end consumer products – iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple watches and AirPods – all of which use semiconductors. In India, it began producing iPhones under the smartphone production-linked incentive scheme through its three Taiwanese vendors in 2021.”

I find the timing of these two reports not coincidental but rather a targeted marketing campaign by India’s government. Currently Apple uses cutting edge processors from TSMC and will take advantage of TSMCs sub-2nm processors in 2027-28. In that light, it's difficult to see where the Tata Group would fit in.  

With that said, Patently Apple posted a report back in January 2024 titled “After entering Apple's Supply Chain in India with iPhone Manufacturing, the Tata Group has revealed they intend to build a Chip Plant.”