In partnership with Flex, the Chinese handset maker will assemble printed circuit boards for its smartphones at a plant near Chennai
Chinese handset and telecom-equipment maker Huawei plans to put together components in India to beat high import duties and a volatile rupee, to get a slice of the country’s booming smartphone market.
The group will start with its printed circuit board, or PCB, assembling by setting up its SMT (surface-mount technology) line in partnership with its manufacturing partner Flex, in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Economic Times has reported.
The company aims to make the unit fully functional in two months and after that Huawei smartphones in India will be fitted with circuit boards assembled in this plant.
Huawei hopes to save on Printed Circuit Board Assembly import duty and also rupee fluctuation, which is down 6% against the US dollar so far this year.
Huawei entered the Indian smartphone market with its sub-brand – Honor, providing affordable and mid-range devices. In the first quarter of 2018 it achieved a market share of 3.4%, up from 1.4% in the same quarter last year. The company aims to garner a 10% market share by 2019.
Honor devices fall in the segment that garners the most volumes in India, but it is also the most crowded and very competitive.