Key takeaways
- QWR and Kaynes partner to establish India's first XR device manufacturing hub.
- Aim to reduce import reliance by 50% and create 1,000 jobs by 2027.
- Focus on designing and producing advanced AR/VR headsets and smart glasses locally.
- QWR leads as the design house, providing intellectual property and product designs.
- New facility near Mysore meets high cleanroom standards for waveguide manufacturing.
QWR (Question What’s Real) Interactive Solutions, a Pune-based deep-tech XR and AI wearables company, and Kaynes Technology India have announced a partnership to establish India’s first integrated hub for waveguide and XR device manufacturing.
The collaboration will focus on designing and producing advanced AR/VR headsets and smart glasses in India. It aims to reduce reliance on imports by up to 50% and create over 1,000 skilled jobs by 2027.
Under the agreement, QWR will lead as the independent design house and original design manufacturer, contributing intellectual property, product designs and calibration protocols.
Suraj Aiar, founder and CEO of QWR, said, “With Kaynes, we’re building deep-tech infrastructure that fuses design, waveguides, and device manufacturing – giving India full-stack ownership of the XR value chain.”
Increase Localisation
Aiar provided AIM with an overview of the ongoing plans at this new facility near Mysore, where the company is setting up a cutting-edge waveguide factory. He explained that the cleanroom standards required for such operations are significantly higher than typical facilities, and thanks to prior investments in the waveguide facility, the current cleanroom meets these stringent standards.
Additionally, the team from Pune is spearheading the establishment of an assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) unit as part of the manufacturing process.
Over the next 16 months, the startup aims to significantly increase localised production, moving from a 25% to 80-85% material roadmap. This transition will involve technology transfer, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and the necessary tooling machinery.
At the same time, the company is preparing to scale up production of newer products, such as XR glasses (HUMBL), which are already moving toward mass production.
Kaynes will additionally scale the manufacturing with new surface mount technology and optical calibration lines in India.
Only Outside China
Kaynes will expand its manufacturing capacity with new surface-mount and optical calibration lines. Together, the companies plan to build the only end-to-end XR manufacturing ecosystem outside China.
Himanshu Verma, the head of AI/XR business at Kaynes Technology, added, “This collaboration enables global-grade hardware to be built in India while also training a new generation of engineers and technicians.”
The partnership will roll out in phases, beginning with AR/VR headsets and waveguides for domestic and global markets. Later, the firms plan to expand into AI-powered smart glasses for defence, education, enterprise training, and industrial applications.
With the global AR/VR market projected to exceed $150 billion by 2030, the collaboration is expected to strengthen India’s role in exports and innovation. The companies also plan co-innovation programmes to develop next-generation XR components, from sensors to holographic displays.
