Nothing spins off CMF; plans USD 100M manufacturing JV with Optiemus

Nothing has converted CMF, its mass-market sub-brand, into an independent subsidiary and will base the unit’s global headquarters and end-to-end smartphone operations in India. The company and Indian manufacturer Optiemus Infracom have signed a strategic joint venture to make India a production and export hub for Nothing and CMF devices.

As part of the agreement, Nothing and Optiemus plan to invest more than USD 100 million and aim to create over 1,800 jobs in India within three years. Nothing has already invested more than USD 200 million in India to date, according to the company’s filings. The binding term sheet filed by Optiemus repeats these figures and confirms the intent to scale local manufacturing capacity.

Carl Pei, Nothing’s CEO, described India as central to shaping the future of the smartphone industry. He said CMF, launched two years ago, has gained traction in the market and will now be built into India’s first global smartphone brand. Optiemus, for its part, said the venture will help it strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and expand export-ready production from India. While the term sheet outlines investment commitments and job creation targets, the companies have not yet disclosed the final ownership structure of the joint venture.

The announcement reflects broader steps by Nothing to deepen its India operations. The company has relocated CMF’s global marketing functions to India and appointed Himanshu Tandon as Vice President of CMF business. It also recently closed a USD 200 million Series C funding round at a USD 1.3 billion valuation, led by Tiger Global with additional investors such as Nikhil Kamath. These developments signal a deliberate operational and financial shift toward positioning India as a global hub for the company’s activities.

The joint venture with Optiemus is expected to move device assembly and related operations into India, with production intended for both domestic and global markets. The investment will support research and development, manufacturing, and operations at Indian facilities, making India the centre of CMF’s global supply chain. The partners have set clear near-term industrial targets of capital expenditure and job creation, which, if delivered, could mark one of the more significant smartphone manufacturing expansions tied to the Make in India initiative.

While CMF began as an affordable brand, its transition into a full-fledged subsidiary with dedicated leadership and India-based global functions marks a turning point in Nothing’s expansion strategy. The product roadmap for CMF devices under the joint venture has yet to be announced, as have export volumes, but the stated ambition is to use India as a springboard for global scale. Optiemus emphasised that the partnership goes beyond manufacturing, pointing to the goal of producing export-ready products designed and built in India for worldwide distribution.

The coming months will determine how quickly the joint venture translates into operational output. The companies have confirmed investment, job, and strategic commitments, but specifics on production timelines, export markets, and product categories are still to come. What is clear is that CMF’s shift to India as its base of operations, combined with Optiemus’s manufacturing expertise, signals an important development in India’s ambition to position itself as a global hub for electronics manufacturing.