Pegatron Ceases iPhone Production at Indian Factory Following Blaze

CHENNAI: Apple supplier Pegatron temporarily suspended iPhone assembly at its factory in southern India on Monday after a fire broke out on Sunday evening, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Taiwanese company has stopped all shifts for the day at a factory near the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state and has yet to tell assembly workers whether the facility will be open on Tuesday, two of the sources added.

Pegatron told Reuters in a statement that there was a “spark incident” at the facility, which is currently under control, and the incident “will not have a significant financial or operational impact” on the company.

While the factory has a production capacity of about 26,000 iPhones per day, it has been assembling about 8,000 to 12,000 iPhones per day in recent months, an industry source said.

Pegatron declined to comment on the production estimate.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

A local official of the fire department said that several fire trucks at different stations had to be brought to the spot to put out the fire, which lasted for nearly five hours.

“There were no injuries, no injuries or property damage. (The) cause of the accident is currently being investigated by (the) competent authority,” Pegatron said.

A police official told Reuters an investigation was underway with the fire department, describing the incident as minor.

Local media reported late Monday that the fire resulted in black smoke covering the surrounding area, and footage showed security guards trying to clear a crowd gathered near the facility’s entrance.

According to research company Counterpoint, Pegatron’s share of Apple’s iPhone production in India is 10 percent. It estimates that Apple will sell more than nine million iPhones in India this year.

Apple has invested heavily in India since it began assembling the iPhone in the country in 2017 through Wistron and later Foxconn, when the Indian government demanded local manufacturing.

Pegatron, which began assembling the iPhone in India in September last year, is also in talks to open a second Indian contract facility for Apple near its current one in Tamil Nadu.

The incident is the latest problem for one of Apple’s 14 suppliers in India.

Production at a Foxconn manufacturing facility suffered in 2021 due to worker food poisoning, while a Wistron factory in India experienced worker unrest in 2020 over non-payment of wages. In February, a fire at Foxlink’s iPhone charging cable factory in southern India forced it to suspend production.