Lenovo, one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers and the proud owner of the Motorola brand, is expanding once again. The company announced that it would begin manufacturing both Lenovo and Motorola phones in a new factory in Chennai, India, starting with the low-price Moto E and Lenovo K3 Note models. According to the press release, 1500 employees have been hired across manufacturing, quality assurance, testing, and other departments.

The change is notable because in the last decade or so most smartphones have been manufactured almost exclusively in China, with a few exceptions for nearby regional companies (like Samsung in South Korea and Asus in Taiwan... though both only manufacture some models in their home countries). The vast majority of smartphones sold in India, even those made at the behest of Indian-owned companies, are manufactured in China by the company's own employees or intermediate manufacturers like Foxconn.

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Lenovo isn't the first mobile manufacturer to open a factory specifically for India. Samsung has a manufacturing wing in the same Sriperambudur neighborhood as Lenovo, and it's already making mobile phones at another Indian plant. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi began Indian production earlier this year. Some local phone manufacturers are also beginning to expand homeland production, such as Intex and Celkon. The presence of hundreds of millions of potential customers, cheaper distribution lines, and labor costs that are relatively competitive can do wonders for the bottom line. Google's own Android One line has focused on India as its first market. Expect to see other international phone makers expand into India soon.

It's worth mentioning that this Lenovo expansion comes just a week after the company announced it would be laying off 3,200 workers in various departments.

PRESS RELEASE