Apple supplier Pegatron halts iPhone assembly at Indian plant after fire

CHENNAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Apple supplier Pegatron temporarily halted iPhone assembly at its facility in southern India on Monday after a fire on Sunday night, three sources told Reuters.

The Taiwanese firm has stopped all day shifts at the factory near the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state and has not yet informed assembly workers whether the facility will operate on Tuesday, two sources said.

Pegatron (4938.TW) told Reuters in a statement that “there was a spark incident” at the facility which is currently under control, and that the incident “does not have a significant financial or operational impact” for the company.

Apple (AAPL.O) did not respond to a request for comment.

A local official from the emergency response department said that several fire tenders had to be called from different stations to control the fire, which took about five hours.

“There have been no injuries, no casualties, and no damage to other properties. The cause of the accident is currently being investigated by the relevant authorities,” Pegatron said.

According to research firm Counterpoint, Pegatron currently accounts for 10% of Apple’s iPhone production in India.

Apple Inc has bet big on India since it started iPhone assembly in the country through Wistron and later Foxconn (2317.TW) in 2017 as the Indian government pushed for local manufacturing.

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

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