Nothing Spins Off Sub-Brand CMF

2026-09-22

Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of consumer electronics brand Nothing, announced that its affordable sub-brand CMF has been fully divested from Nothing and become an independent company controlled by Indian capital.

After the spin-off, CMF will operate as an Indian local enterprise: headquartered in India, with a localized management team and an independent R&D center, and controlling ownership held by Indian capital. Nothing will retain a portion of shares and participate in CMF's development as a strategic shareholder and long-term partner, no longer intervening in its daily operations or local decisions.

The spin-off was long in the making: in September 2025, Nothing formed a joint venture with Indian manufacturer Optiemus, planning to invest over $100 million within three years and create more than 1,800 local jobs; in February this year, CMF and the Nothing main brand jointly entered Bangalore's first flagship store. It is reported that Optiemus Group will participate in CMF's Series A financing, with manufacturing, R&D and ownership to be integrated into the Indian entity.

Strategic Logic

The spin-off stems from Nothing's global contraction pressure. According to Digit, the company is exiting more than 12 markets, including the Middle East, Japan and parts of Europe, and cutting about 40% of its global workforce. Meanwhile, memory prices have soared fourfold since September 2025, severely squeezing budget phone margins. CMF's smartphone originally scheduled for 2026 has been shelved due to cost pressure. Its main market—India's sub-20,000-rupee segment—saw sales shrink 45% year-on-year in Q2 2026.

Yet India remains a key bright spot. Counterpoint data shows that in the quarter ending June 2026, Nothing was India's fastest-growing smartphone brand, with shipments doubling year-on-year. In his public letter, Carl Pei noted that India already has the manufacturing base to compete globally, but product engineering and R&D capabilities still need improvement. He set a long-term target of 100 million units in annual sales for the independent CMF—by then it will significantly enhance upstream bargaining power and amortize software, imaging and AI R&D investment.

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