Key facts
- Three contract workers died of asphyxiation at Tata Electronics' Hosur factory, which makes parts for Apple iPhones.
- Tata Electronics, Apple and the Tamil Nadu state government opened investigations into the deaths.
- A ransomware group posted more than 200,000 files stolen from a Tata Electronics iPhone assembly plant in Hosur in June-July 2026.
- Tata said independent analysis showed compliance with regulatory norms after Tamil Nadu's pollution board warned of a forced shutdown in June 2026.
- A September 2024 fire in a chemical storage area at Tata's Hosur plant halted iPhone component production for several days.
- Apple has ramped up iPhone production in India since 2017, with Foxconn and Tata as its main contract manufacturers.
Three contract workers died of asphyxiation at a Tata Electronics factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, that makes parts for Apple iPhones, Reuters reported on November 10, 2026. The companies and the Tamil Nadu state government opened investigations into the deaths.
The incident is the latest to hit Apple's supply chain in India, which the report describes as central to the US tech giant's push to diversify manufacturing beyond China. Apple has steadily ramped up iPhone production in the country since 2017, with Foxconn and Tata as its main contract manufacturers.
Earlier incidents at Apple supplier facilities in India include a June-July 2026 ransomware theft in which a group posted more than 200,000 files stolen from a Tata Electronics iPhone assembly plant in Hosur, including sensitive supplier information and photos of Apple's then-unreleased iPhone 18 Pro. Tata has since restricted internal access to sensitive systems and hired a global consultant to conduct a forensic audit, sources told Reuters.
In June 2026, Tamil Nadu's pollution control board warned Tata's Hosur iPhone parts plant of a forced shutdown over alleged wastewater contamination of wells in adjacent farmland. Tata said independent analysis showed compliance with regulatory norms, and later said the board had confirmed it had addressed all queries and dropped further action.
In January 2025, India's National Human Rights Commission faulted labor officials for failing to adequately investigate employment discrimination at Foxconn's iPhone plant, documents obtained by Reuters showed. The probe later cleared Foxconn of any wrongdoing. In November 2024, Foxconn ordered its Indian hiring agents to remove age, gender and marital criteria from job advertisements, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, after a Reuters investigation found it systematically excluded married women from assembly jobs at its southern India plant.
A September 2024 fire at Tata's Hosur plant, in an area used to store chemicals, halted iPhone component production for several days. In September 2023, Pegatron temporarily stopped iPhone assembly at its Chennai facility after a fire. In February 2023, Foxlink, which manufactures iPhone chargers, suspended production at its Chittoor assembly facility in Andhra Pradesh after a fire caused part of the building to collapse.
In December 2021, operations at a Foxconn plant near Chennai were halted for more than three weeks after 250 workers fell sick, sparking protests. Apple later found facilities did not meet required standards. In December 2020, workers at a Wistron plant in Karnataka's Narsapura destroyed property during protests over non-payment of wages, forcing the Taiwanese contract manufacturer to shut the plant for three months. Wistron sold its India business to the Tata Group in 2023.