{Hardware} startup Nothing mentioned Thursday that it plans to make its reasonably priced machine model, CMF, into an unbiased subsidiary with India serving as its headquarters for manufacturing and R&D.
The corporate first launched CMF in 2023 with a pair of earbuds and a smartwatch. Since then, it has launched smartphones beneath the model as effectively.
Nothing mentioned that it’s partnering with Indian ODM (Authentic Design Producer) Optiemus to create a three way partnership for manufacturing. Whereas the startup didn’t reveal the possession construction of this enterprise, it mentioned that it goals to speculate greater than $100 million over the subsequent three years, whereas creating over 1,800 jobs.
The London-based startup, following its $200 million funding spherical led by Tiger International, didn’t say how a lot cash from this spherical will go into establishing this new enterprise.
Nothing’s resolution to decide on India as CMF’s operational headquarters is sensible for a couple of causes. CMF’s smartphones have been priced beneath $200, and that’s the dominant class in India, with over 42% of telephones shipped in Q2 2025 being within the $100-$200 worth vary, in line with IDC.
India has additionally been Nothing’s strongest market with over 2% market share in smartphones. IDC advised TechCrunch through e-mail that Nothing was the fastest-growing model within the nation in Q2 2025, with 85% development in shipments yr over yr.
“India will play a key position in shaping the way forward for the worldwide smartphone business. CMF has been well-received by the market since we launched it two years in the past. With our end-to-end capabilities, we’re uniquely positioned to now construct it into India’s first really world smartphone model. Our three way partnership with Optiemus is a key milestone towards making that imaginative and prescient a actuality,” Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei mentioned in a press release.
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The corporate’s transfer comes after it poached Himanshu Tondon from Xiaomi’s spin-off model POCO final month to be VP of Enterprise for CMF.
Model spin-offs have been more and more frequent within the final decade, particularly for manufacturers based mostly in China. Examples embrace Xiaomi spinning off POCO, Huawei promoting off Honor, and Oppo making Realme a separate firm.
