First smartphone factory opens in Erbil

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A smartphone assembly plant has opened in Erbil. It will employ dozens of local workers and partner with a Chinese company, according to the Kurdistan Region's investment board.

“The factory was established by a Kurdish businessman with the help of the Chinese. The needed components are imported from China,” Bargasht Akrayi, spokesperson for the investment board, told Rudaw on Friday.

The new business has created dozens of jobs, most of them going to local workers, including Yazidis who survived the Islamic State (ISIS), according to a social media post by the investment board.

The factory operates in collaboration with Infinix, a Chinese smartphone company, and is expected to assemble 30,000 phones monthly. Initially, only one phone model will be released, with more to follow later.

The phones will be physically robust with secure software, according to Akrayi.

China has recently stepped up its diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and is increasingly a key actor in regional affairs.

Trade between Iraq and China is growing, surpassing $50 billion in 2023, Iraq’s Ambassador to Beijing Shoresh Khalid said in May.

 

Hemin Baban Rahim contributed to this report.