Huawei to make 3m smartphones a year in India amid high demand

Huawei Technologies is gearing up to assemble up to three million smartphones annually in India by the end of next year, as the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ratchets up its expansion in the world’s second-biggest market for the devices in terms of users.

The Shenzhen-based company said on Friday that its Honor-brand smartphones would be the first line assembled, starting next month, by contract electronics manufacturing partner Flex at its industrial park in Chennai, the capital of the country’s southern state of Tamil Nadu.

“We have been present in India for the last 16 years and as part of our India focus, we have been consistently expanding our footprint in the market,” Huawei India chief executive Jay Chen said at a launch ceremony in New Delhi on Friday, according to a company press release. “We’ll keep looking for opportunities to increase our presence here.”

Huawei has become the latest Chinese smartphone brand to set up overseas production in the country to support the government’s “Make in India” campaign.

Other Chinese brands that have made the same commitment include Lenovo Group, TCL Communication Technology, Gionee, Xiaomi and Leshi Internet Information and Technology, more popularly known as LeEco.

According to research firm Strategy Analytics, there are about 800 different smartphone models from various domestic and foreign brands that now compete in India’s US$16 billion-a-year smartphone market.

Huawei did not provide a figure for its smartphone manufacturing investment in India, but said the production capacity of partner Flex’s plant will reach three million units by the end of 2017.

Flex currently makes Lenovo and Motorola-brand smartphones at its Chennai production facility, which has an overall manufacturing capacity of 10 million units.