Three workers die at Tata’s iPhone parts plant in India’s Tamil Nadu 

Three contract workers have died at a Tata Electronics plant producing components for Apple iPhones in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the latest incident involving the US tech giant’s supply chain in its most important manufacturing hub outside China.

The deaths occurred at a site in Hosur, in the Krishnagiri district, late on Monday.

The workers were among a group assigned to clean an effluent treatment plant (ETP) at a facility in Hosur, senior district official Dinesh Kumar told The New Indian Express.

Kumar said the deaths occurred when the workers inhaled gas while inspecting an external nano-filtration tank.

The three workers were taken to a private hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival, TNIE cited Kumar as saying.

The salt-to-aviation Tata Group’s electronics unit accounts for roughly 40 percent of iPhone assembly in India, and Foxconn makes up ‌‌the rest. Tata has in recent months faced many challenges as its iPhone-making operations have been hit by a ransomware attack and concerns about water pollution.

Over the years, as Apple expanded manufacturing beyond China, India has emerged as a key hub, which now accounts for roughly 25 percent of the world’s iPhones.

Tamil Nadu is a key industrial hub in India, hosting factories ⁠⁠of many global giants, such as Foxconn, Hyundai, VinFast and BMW.

The state’s minister for industries, Virudhai Magal Keerthana, said in a post on X that the worker deaths will ⁠⁠be “thoroughly investigated and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings”.

Tata’s Hosur site has faced repeated setbacks: a fire halted production ‌‌at the components plant in 2024, and state authorities warned of a shutdown over alleged groundwater contamination this year before dropping the matter.

Separately, a ransomware breach at an adjacent iPhone plant in the same ‌‌compound ‌‌leaked documents linked to Apple’s then-unreleased iPhone 18 Pro, the Reuters news agency reported previously.