realme has announced a partnership with Optiemus Electronics Ltd. (OEL) to manufacture its next-generation Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) products in India. This collaboration aligns with the “Make in India” initiative, aiming to bolster domestic manufacturing capabilities.
The company’s long-term strategy involves shifting its entire AIoT product portfolio, encompassing earphones, smartwatches, and tablets, to Indian production lines. This transition will commence with the local manufacturing of key products, including the realme Buds T200 series, realme Buds Wireless series, and realme Buds Air series, starting this year.
In conjunction with local production, realme is actively working towards sourcing a substantial portion of critical components, such as Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs), batteries, mechanical parts, cables, and chargers, from Indian suppliers. The company is also exploring the potential to export its “Made-in-India” AIoT products to international markets, with the goal of positioning India as a global manufacturing and innovation hub.
realme and OEL have set a target to produce 5 million AIoT devices annually, which is projected to generate over 2,000 employment opportunities within India. The partnership is expected to contribute to the development of a robust local supply chain and a skilled workforce capable of supporting high-volume and high-quality production.
Production has already commenced with the realme Buds T200 Lite, an earbud featuring Dual Mic AI Deep Call Noise Cancellation, powered by DNN voice recognition technology. This development marks the initial step in the collaborative manufacturing effort between realme and OEL.
Regarding the partnership, realme’s spokesperson said:
India is a dynamic and fast-growing market for next-generation AI-enabled hearables, wearables, and power management devices. We are excited to partner with Optiemus Electronics Ltd. (OEL) to bring the manufacturing of all our high-performance and value for money AIoT devices to India. This collaboration will enable us to expand our manufacturing base to cater to domestic demand, while also reinforcing our commitment to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. At the same time, it opens up new opportunities to extend our global footprint through world-class manufacturing capabilities established here in India.
Ashok Gupta, Chairman, Optiemus Group said:
We are thrilled to sign up this partnership with realme as we believe in realme’s philosophy of ‘Make it real.’ The fusion of AI and IoT is making hearable-wearable products and power devices smarter, more efficient and thus deliver a great value. We are thoroughly delighted to be an eminent part of this AI based product evolution. OEL will continue to play its role in shaping electronics manufacturing in India, generate more employment opportunities, and forge the path ahead to become Atmanirbhar Bharat.