Fire halts production at iPhone plant near Chennai

CHENNAI: Fire broke out at Apple supplier and Taiwanese electronics major Pegatron's facility at Mahindra World City in Chengalpet on Sunday night, bringing the iPhone assembly to a temporary halt on Monday.
"At the company's factory in Chennai, India, on the evening of the 24th local time, there was a spark incident, which is currently under control," a statement from Pegatron said."There are no injuries, no casualties nor damage to other assets. The cause of the accident is under investigation by relevant authorities, and the incident does not have significant financial or operational impact on Pegatron Corporation," it added.
While Pegatron did not specify when normal operations would resume, TOI has learned that production activities did not commence in the facility as of Monday night.
The fire broke out late on Sunday night on the first floor of the single-storey building due to a suspected short circuit.
VVeeraraghavan, fire officer of Mahindra World City, said fire tenders from Maraimalai Nagar, Chengalpet town and Mahindra City rushed there. “After reaching the spot, we put out the fire in about 45 minutes.”
Officials said it was not a major fire and that the damage was being assessed. People of the area TOI spoke to said smoke could be seen engulfing the industrial region. No casualties were reported by authorities as the factory was closed on Sunday night.
Fire and rescue services officials said they put out the fire by opening the asbestos sheet from the ceiling with the help of earth-movers. The fire was completely put out by 11pm.
Taiwan’s Pegatron, the second largest Apple products maker, commenced production in the Mahindra World City complex in 2022 after signing an MoU with Tamil Nadu government. The company then said it invested around ₹1,100 crore and the facility would offer employment to more than 14,000 people.
Industry trackers estimate that the Pegatron facili ty has a total capacity of around 30,000 units a day. Pegatron is also said to be in discussions for expansion of its Chennai facility.
Apple has in recent years taken a big bet on India and begun assembly of iPhones in the country primarily through its contract manufacturers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron. All three manufacturers are part of the government’s production-linked incentive scheme for smartphones. Apple may make one out of four iPhones in India by 2025, as per a September 2022 report by JP Morgan.
This is the second such instance of production disruption at an Apple supplier in the state. In 2021, a Foxconn iPhone factory found itself at the centre of a food-poisoning incident that led to production disruption of more than a week. A Wistron plant in Karnataka was affected by worker unrest in 2020 over non-payment of wages.