Nothing spins CMF into an independent Indian company with a 100M-unit ambition
Nothing is restructuring its budget sub-brand CMF into a majority Indian-owned independent company, with headquarters, R&D;, and engineering all moving to India. Carl Pei announced the split in a post on X titled "India Is Inevitable." Nothing retains a minority stake and a technology partnership role — but day-to-day control shifts to Indian investors whose identities have not yet been disclosed.
The deal
CMF India Private Limited was formally incorporated in December 2025. Under the spin-off, the new entity inherits Nothing OS, the engineering team, the supply chain, and Nothing's industrial design expertise. The goal Pei has set is 100 million units a year — a scale large enough to compel component suppliers to make custom parts rather than sell CMF off-the-shelf standardized chips and modules. Nothing is backing the venture with more than $100 million via a joint venture with Optiemus, with 1,800-plus jobs expected in India over three years.
CMF launched in 2023 as a cheaper alternative to Nothing's flagship phones. It grew fast: per TechCrunch, CMF was the fastest-growing smartphone brand in India in Q2 2025, up 85% year-on-year. That market is built on devices priced under $200, which account for more than 42% of India's smartphone shipments — the exact segment CMF targets.
Why it matters outside India
Pei's pitch draws a direct comparison to Japan, South Korea, and China, each of which built globally competitive electronics brands only after investing years in domestic supply-chain depth. Indian homegrown brands, by contrast, held 46% market share in 2015 and had collapsed to under 1% by 2025, largely by licensing designs rather than developing their own IP, notes Free Press Journal. The CMF spin-off is a bet that the same maturation can happen in India with the right scale and engineering investment.
For consumers in the US and UK, CMF's accessory lineup continues on its own track. The CMF Clip Pro open-ear earbuds launched at $99 in August, and the CMF Buds Neo followed at just $21 with 35dB ANC and 52-hour battery life. On the phone side, the CMF Phone 2 Pro has been delayed into 2026 due to a memory chip shortage — so no imminent hardware launch is expected.
The outlook
Nothing remains a shareholder and tech partner, so the software stack should stay coherent. The bigger question is whether an Indian-majority CMF can build the component leverage and engineering depth Pei is describing — or whether the 100-million-unit target proves aspirational. Either way, the London-headquartered Nothing is now structurally a different kind of company than it was a year ago.
