In advanced talks with Taiwan's Pegatron, the Indian company is building an iPhone assembly plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, according to reports.

The iPhone assembly plant in Hosur city will be Tata's second such facility in the country. The move comes as Apple and its subcontractor partners are rapidly expanding their India operations.

Tata is in talks with Pegatron to form a joint venture for the Hosur plant, which would help speed up its plans to start manufacturing.

Technical and engineering support would be provided by the Taiwanese firm. A request for clarification outside of normal working hours in Taiwan was not immediately addressed by Pegatron.

Apple's ambitions are dependent on Tata's success. After the COVID-19 disruptions and geopolitical tensions, the U.S. firm has been diversifying beyond China, and the proportion of iPhones made in India is expected to reach 20-25 percent this year.

One of the sources said that the Indian firm would hold a majority stake in the joint venture, adding that Tata's new plant with Pegatron is expected to have 20 lines for iPhone assembly. The second source explained that Tata cannot build everything from scratch.

Tata's first iPhone manufacturing facility is located in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which it acquired from Taiwan's Wistron last year.

Pegatron already has an iPhone manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu and is in talks to add another. The company currently accounts for 10% of Apple's iPhone output in India, with Taiwan's Foxconn accounting for the rest.