Vedanta to soon have a world class tech partner for semicon ambitions after Foxconn break-up

Agarwal also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gujarat government for their dedicated efforts to make India a semicon hub of Asia. He said, “Gujarat is the right place for creating Silicon Valley of India.”

Vedanta had earlier been in talks with Taiwan’s Foxconn to create a semiconductor joint venture for Indian markets. However, Foxconn had withdrawn from deal valued at $19.5 billion shattering the company’s chipmaking plans.

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, and Vedanta had signed a pact last year to set up semiconductor and display production plants in PM Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

The deal break-up was a set back for the Modi-govt which has made chipmaking a top priority for India’s economic strategy in pursuit of a “new era” in electronics manufacturing.

“This deal falling through is definitely a setback for the ‘Make in India’ push,” Reuters had quoted Neil Shah, Vice President of research at Counterpoint, as saying.

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Foxconn is best known for assembling iPhones and other Apple products but in recent years it has been expanding into chips to diversify its business.Most of the world’s chip output is limited to a few countries, such as Taiwan, with India a late entrant. The Vedanta-Foxconn venture announced its chipmaking plans in Gujarat last September, with Modi calling the project “an important step” in boosting India’s chipmaking ambitions.

The Indian government has been keen on making India a semiconductor hub. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said there is “not one person in the semiconductor global ecosystem” that does not see India as “a very credible, viable and fast charging destination for semiconductor investments and innovation”.

He also said that India is on track for the next 10 years in the semiconductor space with USD 10 billion (about Rs 81,993 crore), compared to China’s three decades of progress.

“We are on track to do in the next 10 years with these USD 10 billion, what countries like China took 25-30 years and could not succeed.”

The government is implementing a “comprehensive curriculum” in partnership with the industry for creating 85,000 globally skilled talent for VLSI (very large scale integration), with students from post-doctorate degrees, masters and undergraduate courses, he said.

The government also aims to cap USD 300 billion in the electronics industry by 2025-26, of which USD 110 billion for semiconductors by 2029.

(With inputs from agencies)