Carl Pei’s British consumer electronics company Nothing is moving to separate CMF into a standalone Indian company, with the stated aim of doing more than assembling phones in the country.

Nothing co-founder and chief executive officer Pei said CMF will be majority Indian-owned, headquartered in India and supported by its own local team and research and development operations. Nothing will remain a shareholder and partner.

CMF is Nothing’s sub-brand, launched in 2023 to make design-focused consumer technology more accessible at lower price points.

The significance lies in where value is created. India already makes a significant number of the mobile handsets sold domestically, but local assembly does not necessarily mean that the underlying technology, design or intellectual property is developed in India.

Government data published in April put domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing at 18-20%.

In his article, India Is Inevitable, Pei explained that the next phase of the country’s electronics industry has to move from manufacturing towards product engineering and intellectual property.

“Real R&D is the ability to design, engineer and keep improving a product in-house. It’s what separates a company that lasts from one that rides a moment,” Pei wrote.

By R&D, he means controlling areas such as product structure, thermal performance, cameras, software, antennas and key components, instead of relying mainly on a manufacturing partner.

The proposed CMF structure builds on a manufacturing joint venture announced in 2025 between Nothing and Indian electronics manufacturer Optiemus. The latest arrangement takes the relationship further by bringing manufacturing, ownership and R&D together.

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