Consumer electronics firm Nothing is moving to transition its CMF brand into a standalone entity based in India.
Carl Pei, who serves as Nothing co-founder and chief executive officer, stated that CMF will operate as a majority Indian-owned company headquartered in India. The organization will maintain its own dedicated local workforce and research and development operations, while Nothing remains a shareholder and partner. The proposed structure will be majority owned by Indian shareholders, with Optiemus initially set to acquire a 51.1% stake in the proposed joint venture, subject to regulatory approvals, conditions and definitive agreements.
Nothing originally launched CMF as a sub-brand in 2023 to offer design-focused consumer technology at lower price points.
Over time, the brand expanded across audio, wearables, and charging products, and later entered the smartphone market with the CMF Phone 1 in 2024, followed by the CMF Phone 2 Pro. Its current catalog includes smartphones, wireless earbuds, over-ear headphones, smartwatches, and charging accessories.
The strategic shift addresses how value is created in the domestic market. Although India handles a significant share of mobile handset assembly, domestic assembly does not inherently mean underlying technology, design, or intellectual property originates locally. Government data published in April put domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing at 18-20%.
Research and Development Strategy
Writing in an article titled India Is Inevitable, Pei argued that the next phase of the domestic electronics industry must progress from manufacturing toward product engineering and intellectual property development. He defined real research and development as the capability to design, engineer, and continuously improve products in-house.
Under the planned structure, the brand intends to control key areas such as product structure, thermal performance, cameras, software, antennas, and core components, rather than depending primarily on a manufacturing partner. Pei noted an ultimate ambition for CMF to reach 100 million phones a year, stating that such scale could provide enough influence to shape the supplier ecosystem.
Partnership and Market Context
The proposed CMF organization builds upon a manufacturing joint venture announced in 2025 between Nothing and Indian electronics manufacturer Optiemus. The expanded arrangement brings manufacturing, ownership, sales, and research and development activities under a proposed single Indian entity. Optiemus stated that it will initially acquire 51.1% of the proposed joint venture, subject to definitive agreements, regulatory approvals and other conditions.
Both companies indicated the expanded partnership will develop full-stack, end-to-end smartphone research and development in India, spanning industrial design, mechanical engineering, camera engineering, software, connectivity, and component engineering.
This transition occurs against a complex background in the wider smartphone market. Data from Counterpoint indicates India’s smartphone market remained broadly flat in 2025, and shipments fell 10% year-on-year in the June quarter of 2026, marking the largest decline for that quarter in six years.
Concurrently, government policy continues to push the industry upward along the value chain. Budget 2026 raised the outlay for the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme from Rs 22,919 crore to Rs 40,000 crore, alongside ongoing incentives for electronics production and exports.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported this month that Foxconn and Tata Electronics were increasing production of Apple iPhone models in India for export markets.
