CMF has announced an expanded partnership with Indian telecommunications and electronics conglomerate Optiemus Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Optiemus will participate in Nothing’s upcoming Series A funding round dedicated to the CMF brand.
The transaction is structured to position CMF as an independent, majority Indian-owned smartphone entity aimed at developing devices domestically for the global market.
The move marks an evolution of the manufacturing joint venture formed by Nothing and Optiemus in September 2025, which positioned India as a production center for both Nothing and CMF devices.
Under the newly expanded arrangement, production, corporate ownership, and research and development (R&D) operations will be consolidated under a unified Indian entity.
Transitioning from Assembly to Full-Stack R&D
India’s broader smartphone sector has historically centered on assembly and domestic retail distribution, with core engineering, intellectual property (IP), and component supply chains primarily located offshore, particularly in China. The CMF-Optiemus initiative aligns with wider national industrial policies aimed at moving domestic electronics manufacturing up the value chain from basic assembly to domestic innovation and exports.
Through this structure, CMF aims to establish India’s first domestic smartphone brand operating an end-to-end, full-stack R&D infrastructure. The planned development covers six technical disciplines:
- Industrial Design: Direct conceptualization of form factors, ergonomics, and materials.
- Mechanical Engineering: Structural development, hardware architecture, and thermal management systems.
- Camera Engineering: Sensor integration, optical design, and proprietary image-processing pipelines.
- Software Engineering: Development and optimization of operating systems and application-layer software.
- Connectivity Engineering: Implementation and calibration of antenna arrays, radio frequencies, and network protocols.
- Component Engineering: Direct technical collaboration with component vendors to design, test, and optimize device parts.
Developing a Domestic Engineering Base
By anchoring these capabilities within a domestic corporate entity, CMF plans to retain the resulting intellectual property in India. The strategy aims to leverage the engineering practices established by the parent company.
Nothing, while shifting the focus from simple import-substitution manufacturing toward a demand-driven domestic ecosystem that integrates engineering talent, local IP generation, and component fabrication for international distribution.
Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, said:
India has everything needed to become a global technology powerhouse – extraordinary engineering talent, a huge consumer market, increasingly strong manufacturing capabilities, and a government that has consistently supported the growth of India’s electronics and manufacturing ecosystem. That foundation now allows us to take the next step: building India’s first full-stack smartphone R&D capability through CMF. We have already proven at Nothing that an independent brand can build its own design, software and engineering capabilities, create a global brand and ship millions of products around the world. Now we want to bring that blueprint to India through CMF, together with Optiemus, and build it here, for the world.
Ashok Gupta, Executive Chairman of Optiemus, said:
Optiemus has always believed that India’s opportunity is not just to manufacture for the world, but to build the technology, capabilities and brands that can compete with the world. Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS), introduced by MeitY, is an important step in turning that ambition into reality, supporting the development of R&D, IP, design and advanced manufacturing capabilities in India, while driving greater value addition within the country. This is an important part of our Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for a stronger, more self-reliant India that can build for the world. Nothing has already shown what this looks like in practice – building its own design, software and engineering capabilities from scratch, and turning that into a genuine global brand shipping millions of products. CMF is uniquely placed to bring that same blueprint to India, backed by Optiemus’s manufacturing expertise and a policy environment that is increasingly enabling R&D and innovation at scale. We are proud to build that capability with CMF and Nothing, from the ground up.