CMF by Nothing to become a standalone Indian company

It has been almost three years since Nothing launched its CMF sub-brand, and since then, it has announced several products including smartphones, earbuds, headphones, and watches that carry the CMF brand name. Just a few days before the brand's third anniversary, Carl Pei, Nothing's co-founder and CEO, has announced it is spinning it off into its own company.

The info, which was revealed in an article posted on X, also mentions that CMF will be domiciled in India and will operate as a standalone Indian company. It will be majorly owned by Indians and its headquarters and own team including R&D, will be based in the country. Nothing, on the other hand, will remain as a shareholder and partner.

Carl Pei goes on in the lengthy article about how India is an important market, and while there are several brands with factories in the country as a result of the Make in India initiative, India still lacks a global consumer electronics brand of its one.

CMF wants to fill that gap by being a brand that doesn't just manufacture in India but does proper R&D such as developing components and or co-engineering components with suppliers, and owns its own IPs. This should also result in the development of an ecosystem built around Indian brands just as is the case with China where there's a thriving engineering ecosystem built around Chinese brands.

In related news, Akis Evangelidis, who is also a co-founder at Nothing, has announced that CMF and Indian telecommunications and electronics manufacturing enterprise, Optiemus Group, are partnering to build India's first end-to-end R&D smartphone capability. Optiemus will also join CMF's upcoming Series A round, which will lay the groundwork for India's first full-stack smartphone R&D capability.