Intel ties up with eight EMS companies for 'Make in India' laptops

Global semiconductor manufacturer Intel on Friday announced collaboration with eight Indian electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies and original design manufacturers (ODMs), sharing key technological and operational insights for their laptop manufacturing projects in India.

As part of the new collaboration, Intel has shared its expertise in the production of complete entry-level laptops in India.

Dixon Technologies India, Optiemus Electronics, Kaynes Technology India, Bhagwati Products, Panache Digilife, Smile Electronics, Syrma SGS Technology, and VVDN Technologies may be able to utilise laptop manufacturing processes designed by Intel.

The eight companies, which have applied for coming under the government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, will be able to use Intel’s state-of-the-art Surface Mount Technology (SMT), setting up a quality control process for components, and even benchmarking of finished products.

SMT is a critical part of laptop manufacturing, as it involves mounting electronic components on the motherboard.

The companies may use the technologies to serve both domestic and global markets. Intel said the initiative underscored its dedication to accelerate technology-led growth in alignment with the Make in India initiative. Gaining technical expertise from Intel is likely to bring down the cost of producing entry-level laptops and may further allow cheaper products for end-users.

“Intel has been the fundamental enabler of several electronic ecosystems across the world, and we are excited about fuelling that in India. Bringing in Intel’s technology-related investment and global system supply chain ecosystem knowledge exemplifies our dedication to fostering electronic manufacturing capabilities in India,” said Santhosh Viswanathan, vice-president and managing director, India Region, Intel.

Intel has provided support to ODMs, spanning both semi-knocked down (SKD) and completely-knocked down (CKD) processes. For certain of these companies, this will mark their first foray into laptop manufacturing.

“By enabling the laptop manufacturing process -- from SMT assembly to finished product -- we are not only meeting the demands of the Make in India initiative but also contributing to the technological progress of the nation,” Viswanathan added.

Though the government has been offering incentives for domestic manufacturing of IT hardware products such as laptops, tablets, and servers since 2021, the segment has not picked up as quickly as smartphone manufacturing. Forty domestic and global companies including Dell, Hewlett Packard, Foxconn (via a subsidiary), Asus, Acer, and Flex applied to be put under the revised PLI scheme earlier this year. The scheme provides extra benefits for localising component manufacturing.  

Intel will host the India Tech Ecosystem Summit in November, bringing together a vast number of local manufacturers to showcase a much larger portfolio of devices being made in India.  

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union minister of state for electronics and IT, skill development and entrepreneurship, said: “I am pleased that global organisations like Intel are partnering with India, helping to build and catalyse the electronics manufacturing ecosystem for laptops and compute. This aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to drive India’s digital economy to $1 trillion and enable the electronics manufacturing ecosystem to contribute $300 billion by 2025-26.”