Carl Pei’s CMF to headquarter in India after $100-mn JV with Optiemus

In an interview with Mint, Ashok Kumar Gupta, executive chairman of Optiemus Infracom, confirmed that it will own 65% of the joint venture with CMF. The joint investment of $100 million ( ₹900 crore) over the next three years will be spent across design, research & development (R&D), and local manufacturing operations.

The move to settle in India comes at a time when CMF and its parent firm Nothing, cofounded by Carl Pei—who had also co-created China’s OnePlus — have seen steady growth in India. Analysts said that the move made sense since India is one of CMF’s largest markets, as well as a stable regime for brands to choose as a manufacturing destination driven by policies and other government directives.

The first units of CMF smartphones built in partnership with Optiemus will roll out this December, Gupta said.

“For us, this marks a four-and-a-half-year wait to venture deep into smartphone manufacturing, and we are doing so through a partnership with one of the most unique design-led brands in the world," he said. “Unlike many other brands, Nothing and CMF use their own product designs and innovations, and owning a stake in the designing and R&D operations will boost domestic value additions—instead of simply being a low-margin electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider."

CMF’s Pei, who could not be reached for a comment until press time, said in a post on X that the JV will “create more than 1,800 jobs in India over the next three years".

“We are building it (CMF) into the country’s first truly global consumer tech brand. Built from India, to the world. With our end-to-end capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to bring this vision to life," the top executive had posted earlier on Thursday, after a meeting with Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Sanyam Chaurasia, principal analyst at global technology advisory firm Omdia, said the move can work in the company’s favour. “CMF has always had a differentiated product offering, and with it now being a segregated entity placed in a fast-moving market, there is massive scope for growth here," Chaurasia said.

“We saw Nothing announce its recent funding round. By having a joint venture in place in India, we may even see CMF independently raise funding to boost its India operations, which in turn will cater to the world," he added.

“The move is not just about government subsidies—looking at the sales figures of the two brands right now, the Centre’s subsidies will be difficult to qualify for," said Upasana Joshi, senior research manager at IDC India. “Instead, the move is in line with the Centre’s push to have foreign firms enter India in a joint venture with local firms—giving India the ability to contribute to R&D and design—rather than just assembling devices."

Once the facility is established, Joshi said, the company can target global markets to treat its India operations as an export hub.

CMF was created by Nothing in August 2023. It launched its first smartphone a year later. According to data sourced by Mint from market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) India, CMF sold 1% of all smartphones in India in the quarter of July to September, last year. The brand is yet to cross sales of 1 million total smartphones in India as it completes one year of smartphone sales. Almost half of it, however, came during its first quarter—the company hasn’t managed to replicate this exact success even as it sold over 100,000 devices in every period between then and now.

Optiemus Infracom is a Noida-based electronics and components manufacturing services firm, incorporated in 1993 as Akanksha Cellular Ltd. The company changed its name in 2011 before going public in August 2017, listing at ₹54.20 apiece eight years ago. The company’s share price reached a high of ₹873.80 this time last year. On Thursday, its shares rose 2.1% to ₹684, following its announcement with Pei’s CMF.

Optiemus reported a 24% year-on-year jump in net revenue to ₹1,890 crore in FY25, while its net profit rose 12% year-on-year to ₹63 crore. The company started this fiscal on a weak footing, with quarterly revenue down 12% (both sequentially and annually) to ₹438 crore during the period, and net profit down 40% sequentially to ₹15 crore in Q1FY26.

Gupta, citing the CMF joint venture, said that barring quarterly fluctuations, the company expects such deals to boost its earnings. “In the next 24 to 36 months, we expect our projects with CMF, global tempered glass maker Corning and others to boost our earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) to hit four-digit figures. This is the most important metric for any shareholder, and pursuing low-margin EMS projects will not get me there. Instead, the focus is on increasing high-value projects through local design and R&D expertise—which is what we are doing now," he added.

Pei, the cofounder of CMF and its parent firm Nothing, was one of the most popular faces of India’s smartphone market when China’s BBK Electronics-owned OnePlus entered India. In October 2020, the executive departed the company he himself had built, claiming that his next venture would offer “a significant departure from the norm". A month later, he announced the UK-headquartered Nothing.