Work to resume at India iPhone plant after factory fire

MUMBAI — An Indian factory producing iPhone components was resuming work on Thursday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple's local supply chain since the start of last year. 

India has pitched itself as an emerging manufacturing hub for tech giants diversifying production outside of China to insulate themselves against geopolitical friction between Washington and Beijing. 

Local industrial behemoth Tata Group's plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained weekend fire, is a key lynchpin of Apple's nascent supply chain in the country. 

A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics said on Thursday that the company would restart work in "many areas of the facility today". 

"We've been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire," they added. 

The conglomerate did not say when the facility would resume full production or whether the fire would result in shipment delays. 

Local analysts had initially projected a delay in production of older iPhone models. 

The fire is the latest incident to affect Apple's supply chain in India, with two other blazes temporarily halting production at factories owned by Taiwanese suppliers Pegatron and Foxlink last year. 

India has been a major beneficiary of Apple's decision to broaden its production outside of China. 

The company plans to also start locally manufacturing AirPods, its wireless earphones, at a facility owned by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, the Times of India newspaper reported Thursday. 

Foxconn, a principal assembler of iPhones, is also in the process of building a major phone assembly plant near Bengaluru, the country's principal information technology hub. 

Other tech companies have followed suit, with Google this year beginning the local manufacture of its flagship Pixel 8 smartphone. 

Tamil Nadu, where the Tata factory is based, has worked to cultivate its high-tech manufacturing industry. 

State Chief Minister MK Stalin concluded a whirlwind tour of the United States last month, securing fresh investment commitments worth nearly $900 million, according to local media reports. 

Key deals include promises from Finnish tech giant Nokia and payments firm PayPal to set up research and artificial intelligence development centres in the state.