Corning To Open Gorilla Glass Facility In India As Apple Expands Manufacturing Footprint

Gorilla glass maker Corning is looking to invest nearly $120 million to set up a manufacturing facility in India, thus marking the formal entry of another key Apple supplier into the South Asian country.

The facility will reportedly come up in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which already hosts some of Apple's largest contract manufacturers like Foxconn and Pegatron.

"Corning is the monopoly in Gorilla Glass and is a highly specialized player, which will set up a facility in Pillaipakkam, near Sriperumbudur with an investment of around INR 1,000 crore ($120 million)," Indian news outlet Economic Times reported, citing a source.

The New York-headquartered glass maker will work with its Indian partner Optiemus Infracom to set up the facility, expected to be built on a 25-acre plot. It will reportedly employ around 300 workers.

"We see Corning as a big supplier for Apple in India and a key part of its manufacturing footprint expansion," Daniel Ives, senior equity analyst and managing director at Los Angeles-based investment firm Wedbush Securities, told ET. "Corning is key to the glass on the flagship iPhone and Apple is a strategic partner. This is another sign that it's a matter of when, not if India iPhone production ramps."

International Business Times tried to reach out to Corning but did not immediately receive a response.

The addition of Corning to Apple's expanding ecosystem in India comes as the iPhone maker weans off its dependence on China. Apple has been fostering partnerships with key players in India, Vietnam and other markets to diversify its operations beyond China.

Corning's investment in the new facility also indicates that top and niche global players are expanding their operations to India, thus playing a role in boosting the South Asian country's electronics value chain.

India is now the second-largest mobile phone-producing country after China, according to a Counterpoint Research report released earlier this year.

"The urgent need to have an alternate supply chain to China, which had turned unfavorable due to several reasons which are predominantly political," is one reason that has contributed to India's rising smartphone exports, Varun Krishnan, editor-in-chief of FoneArena, previously told IBT.

Several global companies are setting up units in India to manufacture cellphones and their components. This contributes to New Delhi's vision of becoming an electronic manufacturing powerhouse that can compete with China. However, India still has a long way to go before its manufacturing capabilities offer notable value.

"Majority of manufacturing happening in India with respect to smartphones is still mostly assembly operations, which is not as easy as it sounds but still not as sophisticated as manufacturing," Krishnan added.

India still imports much of what goes into a mobile phone and can only truly add manufacturing value when it starts making its own component parts like the processor, lens, batter, display and more.