Optiemus to expand manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand for wearables

Homegrown contract manufacturer Optiemus Electronics Ltd will set up a new manufacturing facility for wearables in Noida by year end as it looks to expand capacity to meet the growing demand for smartwatches and truly wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds, company director Nitesh Gupta told Mint.  

“We are looking at a rapid capacity expansion as the market is also growing at a very rapid pace. Next year, we are also planning to set up manufacturing in South India,” said Gupta. 

India’s smartwatch market grew 312% year-on-year (YoY) in the June quarter of 2022, while TWS shipments grew 168% YoY, according to Counterpoint Research. 

Optiemus currently manufactures wearables for homegrown brands such as Noise and Samsung subsidiary Harman. According to Counterpoint, Noise was the second leading smartwatch brand in India and fifth globally in the June quarter of 2022. 

The new facility in Noida, UP will increase Optiemus’ manufacturing capacity by 2 million units per month. The company currently has two facilities for wearables, also in Noida, with a combined capacity of 3.2 million units per month.  

The expansion will also double the workforce for Optiemus. “The wearables segment is quite labor intensive. We currently employ 2500 workers. We expect the headcount to grow to 5,000 with the expansion we have planned,” said Gupta. 

That said, most smartphone and wearables manufacturers in India are still not doing full manufacturing and are assembling products from semi-knocked down (SKDs) kits that are imported from China, Taiwan, and other regions. Though Gupta noted that most components are currently being imported as their local assembly requires heavy capital investment, he added that the company is working on cutting dependence on imports for some components. 

“Our target is to enable assembly of high-value components in the bill of material (BOM), which are possible in India. We are targeting batteries, displays, and microphones. We will start PCB assembly early next year as the infrastructure and capability is already in place,” said Gupta. 

The growth in India's wearable market and the government's plans to introduce production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for wearables is also attracting global interest. 

Gupta said that the company is in talks with multiple global brands that are looking to manufacture wearables in India. “Global brands are also showing a lot of interest in manufacturing in India. We are expecting them to start manufacturing wearables in India by the middle of next year,” he added. 

He didn’t mention the names of global brands due to non-disclosure agreements (NDA). 

Further, Gupta said that hearables and wearables are a huge segment within lifestyle accessories. However, it is not limited to any one form factor.  “Hearables and wearables will keep evolving in form factors. We are also testing to manufacture smart glasses in India. Flexible displays are becoming big in smartphones. It can also offer a bigger display on wearables,” he added.