Carl Pei’s Masterstroke: How CMF is Turbocharging Its R&D With Optiemus in India

Nothing announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its strategic manufacturing joint venture with the Optiemus Group to bring manufacturing, ownership, and research and development of Nothing and CMF smartphones under one India-based entity, CMF. Further, the company has revealed that the Optiemus Group will be joining Nothing's next Series A funding round, increasing its stake in the Carl Pei-led tech firm. This comes a year after the two firms first announced their partnership in September 2025, which helped Nothing establish India as its production hub.

CMF Will Soon Be an Indian-Owned Smartphone Brand

On Tuesday, Nothing announced that it is expanding its existing strategic manufacturing joint venture with the Optiemus Group. As part of the expanded partnership, the Optiemus Group will join Nothing's upcoming Series A investment round for the CMF brand. The Carl Pei-led tech firm says that this is a step towards restructuring CMF as an independent smartphone brand, which will soon be a majority Indian-owned firm.

Further, the company says that the partnership between Nothing and the Optiemus Group for the CMF brand will allow the firms to bring manufacturing, ownership, and research and development under the purview of a single Indian-owned entity, which is CMF. Nothing highlighted that the new comprehensive partnership between the firms builds on their existing joint venture, which the two entered into last year. This helped in establishing India as a “production hub” for Nothing and CMF devices.

Recently, Nothing's Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carl Pei announced that the firm will soon spin off CMF from Nothing to establish the sub-brand as an independent, majority Indian-owned firm. While the CMF brand will no longer be a sub-brand of Nothing, the UK-based tech firm will continue to be a stakeholder in the new entity, apart from the Optiemus Group, which will also hold a part of CMF after the Series A round.

As part of the announcement made on Monday, the Nothing executive also highlighted the potential of India's consumer technology sector and the need for building an end-to-end research and development ecosystem within the country. Pei said that this will help India create its own homegrown consumer technology brands with a global presence.

There has also been a push from the government to build consumer electronics, especially smartphones, in India. Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPSE) with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 62,500 crore, with the aim of helping domestic Indian brands manufacture in India. Pei highlighted that 99 percent of smartphones sold in India are now manufactured domestically. Further, India is now the second-largest smartphone maker in the world.