Google Seeks Suppliers To Move Some Pixel Production To India

Google is scouting for suppliers in India to assemble its Pixel smartphones as it borrows from Apple Inc.’s playbook to diversify beyond China. 

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has initiated early conversations with companies including homegrown Lava International Ltd. And Dixon Technologies India Ltd. as well as Foxconn Technology Group’s India Unit Bharat FIH, people familiar with the matter said, as per the Bloomberg report.

Apple has already used the program, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s co-called production-linked financial incentives, the program to widen its supplies base in India and tripled iPhone output to more than $7billion in the fiscal year through March 2023. Google would be the largest global technology player to move production to India. 

The Modi government has been pitching India as an alternative manufacturing hub, as more companies are becoming wary of the risks of depending on China after its harsh Covid lockdowns and trade war between Washington and Beijing. 

Modi is scheduled to visit the US where his delegation is expected to hold talks on topics including a removal of tech trade barriers between the two major countries. 

Google built around 9 million Pixel smartphones last year, as per the Counterpoint Research, and as per Bloomberg report, the discussions in India underscore its plans to move production beyond China and Vietnam. The Pixel is among the most sophisticated smartphones, and Google uses its flagship hardware product to showcase what its Android operating system and apps are capable of when optimized. 

The Local assembly could help Pixel sales as India is a key growth market for Google’s services, and if the phone effort is successful, Google could also move production of other hardware such as speakers to India, the report said.