iPhone Production at Apple Supplier Pegatron’s Chennai Facility Halted Due to Fire

Pegatron, a company that supplies components for Apple, faced a temporary halt in iPhone assembly at its facility in southern India due to a fire incident that occurred on Sunday night, as reported by Reuters. This Taiwanese firm reportedly canceled all shifts for the day at its factory situated near Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. Pegatron has not yet informed its assembly workers whether the facility will resume operations on Tuesday, according to Reuters’ sources.

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Pegatron, in a statement to the news agency, confirmed that there was an incident involving sparks at the facility, which is now under control. The company stressed that this incident will not have significant financial or operational consequences for them.

A local official from the emergency response department mentioned that it took nearly five hours to extinguish the fire, and multiple fire engines from different stations were involved. Pegatron stated, “There are no injuries, casualties, or damage to other assets as a result of the incident. The cause of the accident is currently being investigated by the relevant authorities.”

As per research firm Counterpoint, Pegatron currently contributes to 10% of Apple’s iPhone production in India. Apple Inc. has made substantial investments in India since starting iPhone assembly operations in 2017 through Wistron and later Foxconn, aligning with the Indian government’s focus on promoting local manufacturing. Pegatron, which began iPhone assembly operations in India in the previous year, is currently in talks about establishing a second contract facility for Apple near its existing one in Tamil Nadu.

Over the next 4-5 years, Apple plans to significantly increase its production in India, aiming for over five-fold growth to reach around $40 billion, according to government sources cited by news agency PTI. The company has already crossed the $7 billion production milestone in the last fiscal year. An official stated, “Apple has plans to increase production in India to over $40 billion in the next 4-5 years. It has crossed $7 billion in the last fiscal year.”