CMF by Nothing is becoming something of its own

Ben Schoon | Sep 25 2025 - 7:30 am PT

Operating as a sub-brand of Nothing for the past couple of years, it’s been announced today that what was formerly “CMF by Nothing” is becoming an indepedent subsidiary and India’s first global smartphone company.

CMF by Nothing started operations as a budget-focused sub-brand of the Carl Pei-owned Nothing back in 2023 with a smartwatch and its own earbuds. A year later, the first CMF Phone debuted with an absurdly low $199 price point, and CMF has since continued to put out new, budget-focused hardware ever since.

But, now, CMF is being spun off into its own company.

CMF will ditch the “by Nothing” footnote and become an independent subsidiary of Nothing. The move will see CMF continuing to focus on budget hardware, but more importantly, it will also become the first global smartphone “and smart hardware” company based in India.

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Nothing is spinning off CMF with the help of Optiemus, which will also be working with Nothing to use India as a global production and export hub for both Nothing products and CMF products.

Meanwhile, CMF is gearing up for its next product launch in CMF Headphone Pro, which have shown to still be carrying the “CMF by Nothing” branding.

Nothing teases colorful CMF ‘Headphone Pro’ launching later this month [Video]

CMF’s full press release on the spin-off follows:

CMF to become India’s first global smartphone and smart hardware company, starting with a strategic joint venture with Optiemus

India to become CMF’s global headquarters with end-to-end smartphone operations. A brand built in India, for the world.

Gurugram, India – 25th September 2025 – London-based technology company Nothing today announced that CMF, previously a sub-brand, will operate as an independent subsidiary, with India to become its base for operations, R&D, and manufacturing. This milestone demonstrates India’s capability to anchor and scale next-generation consumer technology brands.

Alongside this evolution, Nothing and leading Indian electronics manufacturer Optiemus Infracom limited today announced a strategic manufacturing joint venture to establish India as a global production and export hub for Nothing and CMF products. The joint venture marks a significant investment in India’s technology manufacturing capabilities, reinforcing Nothing’s support for the Government of India’s Make in India initiative.

Through this next chapter, CMF will pursue its vision of establishing India’s first truly global consumer technology brand – built from India, to the world. As part of the joint venture, Nothing & Optiemus will invest over USD $100 million and create more than 1,800+ jobs in India over the next three years. To date, Nothing has already invested over USD $200 million in the country.

Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing, said: “India will play a key role in shaping the future of the global smartphone industry. CMF has been well received by the market since we launched it two years ago. With our end-to-end capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to now build it into India’s first truly global smartphone brand. Our joint venture with Optiemus is a key milestone toward making that vision a reality.”

Optiemus brings world-class engineering and production capabilities. Their proven expertise in supporting global brands and establishing robust manufacturing and export opportunities further strengthens India’s position as a global hub for electronics manufacturing.

Ashok Gupta, Executive Chairman, Optiemus said: “We are extremely excited about this partnership with Nothing; it will allow us to further strengthen our world-class manufacturing capabilities for the products of today and tomorrow. Global brands choosing India to build is a testament to the strength of the Indian ecosystem and the vision of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. This partnership goes beyond high-tech manufacturing—it will empower us to create export-ready products that will be designed in India, showcasing the innovation and talent of our people to the world in the coming years.”

This announcement follows recent strategic moves that have positioned India at the centre of CMF’s global operations, including relocating CMF’s global marketing to India and appointing senior leaders such as Himanshu Tandon as VP of CMF Business. Nothing also recently announced its USD $200M Series C funding at a $1.3B valuation led by Tiger Global, and with Nikhil Kamath joining as one of the new investors.