ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood Tuesday said that Xiaomi Inc has floated plans to manufacture 2.5 to three million smartphones initially in Pakistan in collaboration with a local distributor Air Link Communication Limited.
This is coming to fruition the Make in Pakistan policy, said the adviser after Xiaomi Inc and AirLink expressed their plans a day earlier. They will extend the production facility in the Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate in Lahore, Dawood said. Their manufacturing unit will be functional by January 2022 and will mean employment opportunities for about 3,000 people, he added.
Chinese smartphone and electronics giant Xiaomi plans to manufacture phones in Pakistan, its local partner, Air Link Communication Limited, revealed in a material disclosure statement filed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday.
“Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics & smartphone giant, has joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Limited, as its manufacturing partner for Xiaomi mobile phones in Pakistan,” reads the statement.
Last month, Air Link had announced that it will incorporate a wholly-owned subsidiary “Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited”.
“The primary objective of this wholly-owned subsidiary would be to take on additional mobile device manufacturing of certain selected brand(s),” Air Link had stated.
Air Link said that it is initially targeting the production of an estimated 2.5-3 million handsets annually, which “will have a material incremental impact on the earnings per share of the company other than the normal course of business.”
The manufacturing of these smartphones will approximately contribute $450 million annually to revenue, the company projects. “The production facility will be located adjacent to Air Link’s existing state-of-the-art mobile manufacturing facility at the Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate, Kot Lakhpat Lahore,” read the statement. The production facility is expected to be operational within January 2022. – TLTP
