The partnership builds on the manufacturing joint venture announced by Nothing and Optiemus in September 2025, which established India as a production hub for Nothing and CMF products. Under the expanded partnership, Optiemus will join CMF’s upcoming Series A investment round. Earlier reporting noted: Formally, the expanded partnership takes forward the manufacturing joint venture (JV) that Nothing and Optiemus announced in September 2025, which will make products for Nothing and CMF.
The expanded partnership will combine manufacturing, ownership and R&D under a single Indian entity. CMF said the move aims to develop the brand into a majority Indian-owned, independent smartphone business, with products designed and engineered in India for global markets. The existing manufacturing joint venture between Nothing and Optiemus will also evolve to cover manufacturing, ownership and research and development under a single Indian entity. CMF said the partnership is intended to expand India’s role in the smartphone value chain beyond manufacturing and assembly, focusing on local engineering, R&D and intellectual property. The company plans to develop R&D capabilities in India across six areas: industrial design, mechanical engineering, camera engineering, software engineering, connectivity engineering and component engineering. The six R&D areas will cover different stages of smartphone development. Industrial design will focus on the phone’s form, materials and overall design, while mechanical engineering will cover the structure, materials, thermal systems and hardware architecture. Earlier reporting noted: Optiemus to do CMF’s full-stack smartphone R&D Day after Nothing’s CEO Carl Pei said that CMF will be a standalone Indian entity , the Noida-based Optiemus Group has said to join Nothing’s upcoming Series A investment round for the CMF. Earlier reporting noted: “This partnership is designed to go beyond ownership and manufacturing, with the ambition of building CMF into India’s first smartphone brand with full-stack, end-to-end R&D capabilities,” the companies said.
CMF has expanded its partnership with Optiemus Group. Under the new deal, Optiemus will participate in Nothing’s upcoming Series A investment round for the CMF brand.
Component engineering will involve working with suppliers to develop, test and optimise components used in CMF products. CMF said the intellectual property generated through these activities will be held locally, with the products designed and engineered in India rather than only assembled in the country. The company said the partnership is intended to support the development of an Indian ecosystem involving engineering talent, component suppliers, local intellectual property and product development. According to CMF, much of the global smartphone engineering and component ecosystem is currently concentrated in China, where smartphone brands have built supplier and R&D capabilities over time through local demand and investment. CMF said it aims to develop a similar demand-driven ecosystem in India by bringing engineering, component development and product R&D closer together. Camera engineering will involve camera systems, sensors, image processing and photography technology. Software engineering will focus on software and operating system development. The company also plans to work on connectivity engineering, covering antennas, radio systems and network performance. Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.