Tata Electronics' workforce expands to 75,000 from 15,000

Measuring how far India will go in production.

According to The Economic Times, citing unnamed sources, "Tata Electronics has expanded its workforce to 75,000, surpassing Taiwanese rival Foxconn's headcount in the country, making it Apple's largest contract manufacturer by headcount currently." The report added that the expansion has been driven primarily by its large-scale Hosur facility in Tamil Nadu.

Supply-chain sources said the company's workforce growth marks a sharp increase from about 15,000 in 2023, reflecting an aggressive scaling strategy supported by major capital investment, factory acquisitions, and rapid capacity buildout. The expansion includes its 500-acre Hosur campus, which has become the core hub of iPhone assembly in India.

Tata Electronics has combined acquisitions of Taiwanese contract manufacturers' Indian assets with greenfield investment to accelerate entry into Apple's supply chain. It acquired former Wistron(3231.TW) and Pegatron(4938.TW) facilities, while simultaneously expanding its Hosur plant, which began iPhone assembly operations in 2025.

In addition to assembly, the company is also moving upstream into semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) and component localization, supported by large-scale funding injections in recent fiscal years. These investments aim to build a vertically integrated electronics manufacturing base spanning assembly, packaging, and supply chain services.

The reported figure of 75,000 employees reflects both direct and acquired operations across Tata Electronics' manufacturing footprint in southern India. One source noted that the rapid scale-up has enabled the company to meet Apple's production requirements while overtaking Foxconn(2317.TW) in local headcount, although industry participants expect rankings to fluctuate as other facilities ramp up.

Source: Source

NB: If we add Tata and Foxconn, we are probably in the 200,000 range this year. The comparable China model is …

…in the 2 million scale. I can imagine that India could scale to 1 million easily thus reaching about 50% of what China is producing. This may not mean a reduction in capacity in China but a net gain. This implies roughly three more doublings of expansion (200k -> 400k -> 800k -> 1000k+).

From 2023 to the present the number of doublings is also about three (15k -> 30k -> 60k -> 75k) suggesting perhaps four to five years of aggressive growth still to come in India.

This needs to be matched to the overall expansion of user base that is already in the Active device forecast.