A day after exiting the joint venture with Vedanta group, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn said that it will separately apply for incentives from the government to set up semiconductor manufacturing in the country.
“Foxconn is working toward submitting an application related to the ‘Modified Programme for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem.’ We have been actively reviewing the landscape for optimal partners. We welcome a diverse set of stakeholders, both inside India and abroad, who also want to see India get to the next level and can complement Foxconn’s world-class supply chain management and manufacturing efficiency,” Foxconn said in a statement.
The new development has come after Foxconn announced its exit from a semiconductor joint venture with Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta. Last year, the two partners had announced plans to invest $19.5 billion in setting up a semiconductor unit and display production plants in Gujarat.
Lots of challenges
Explaining the reason for the exit, Foxconn said, “Both parties mutually agreed to part ways. This is not a negative. There was recognition from both sides that the project was not moving fast enough, there were challenging gaps we were not able to smoothly overcome, as well as external issues unrelated to the project.”
“Building fabs from scratch in a new geography is a challenge, but Foxconn is committed to invest in India. We have been working on challenges like this since the 1980s. Foxconn has no intention to do anything but continue to strongly support the government’s “Make In India” ambitions and establish a diversity of local partnerships that meet the needs of stakeholders,” it added.
Vedanta is also pursuing the semiconductor plan independently. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship on Monday said Vedanta has recently submitted a 40-nm fab proposal backed by a tech licensing agreement from a global semiconductor major — which is currently being evaluated.
Published on July 11, 2023
