Foxconn recently withdraw from a semiconductor joint venture project with Vedanta. However, the company is now planning to set up four or five chip-making plants in India, as per a media report.
A senior government official told The Economic Times that Foxconn has shared with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology the details of two agreements it has signed with technology partners.
“We have asked them to sign definitive agreements and come back to us with the details on the proposed technology, the nature of agreements, the people involved in these, among others,” The Economic Times report cited above stated, quoting a senior government official.
The official said that Foxconn, having experience with the processes, is expected to complete the final application and make a formal announcement in the next 45-60 days.
The report further said that Foxconn plans to establish one production line in Gujarat and may also explore other possible locations.
This has come at a time when Foxconn has announced its decision to withdraw from a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture project with Vedanta.
“Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta,” a Foxconn statement said while announcing its decision.
Citing the reason behind the move, Foxconn has said that they have mutually agreed to end their joint venture for making chips in India, as the project was not moving forward as expected. Foxconn pointed out “challenging gaps” that were hard to bridge but stressed that the decision was not negative.
For unversed, Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductors Ltd (VFSL) was a joint venture between Vedanta Group from India and Hon Hai Precision Industry from Taiwan. Vedanta had a 63 percent stake and Hon Hai Precision Industry had a 37 percent stake in the company.
Foxconn said that it was working to apply under India’s Modified Program for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem, a $10 billion scheme that offers incentives of up to 50 per cent of capital costs for projects in chip and display manufacturing, as reported by Reuters.
Foxconn is in discussions with various domestic and foreign partners to set up chip-making facilities in India. The company would focus on using mature semiconductor technology for products such as electric vehicles (EVs). The names of the potential partners are not disclosed yet.
Meanwhile, the government is currently evaluating a 40nm fab proposal submitted by Vedanta through VFSL. The proposal is “backed by Tech licensing agreement from a Global Semicon major,” as per the information shared by the MoS IT Rajeev Chandrashekar. (Techlusive)