India: IT Minister inaugurates facility to assemble Taiwanese MSI laptops

In a significant boost to India’s electronics manufacturing sector, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, inaugurated a laptop assembly line in the Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), in Chennai city. The Syrma SGS facility will be assembling laptops for Taiwanese Brand Micro-Star International(MSI). This assembly line is said to have an initial annual production capacity of 1,00,000 laptops, scalable to one million units per year within the next 1-2 years, based on demand.

This initiative marks India’s shift from being a notable player in mobile phone assembly sector to making strides in the laptop and IT hardware assembly sector. The new assembly line is a step towards achieving Production Linked Incentive 2.0. PLI 2.0 provides financial incentives to boost domestic manufacturing of IT hardware. The scheme aims to encourage the localization of components and sub-assemblies, and to attract large investments in the IT hardware value chain.

Facilities like the newly inaugurated Syrma SGS assembly line in Chennai showcase India’s capability to produce world-class laptops that meet global standards, reducing dependency on imported laptops, and also positioning India as a global hub for IT hardware manufacturing, the Minister said. The facility will not only meet domestic demand but also strengthen India’s role in the global IT supply chain.

This development underscores India’s evolving manufacturing ecosystem, diversifying from mobile phones to IT hardware. It is expected to provide consumers with locally-assembled laptops from International brands, while boosting India’s economic growth, creating jobs.