Gujarat in Talks With Foxconn for Semiconductor Plant Days After Vedanta JV Falls Aside

India’s Gujarat state is holding talks with Foxconn over a semiconductor plant, a high authorities official advised Reuters, days after the Taiwanese big broke off a joint-venture plan with India’s Vedanta.

“We are in touch with multiple prospective investors, including Foxconn … Gujarat is uniquely positioned to attract top chipmakers,” mentioned Vijay Nehra, secretary of the science and expertise division in Gujarat. 

Foxconn this week exited its undertaking with Vedanta, which was additionally deliberate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dwelling state of Gujarat, citing points comparable to gradual progress. 

The breakup of the JV was a setback for Modi’s imaginative and prescient to ascertain India as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. However, Foxconn mentioned later it could apply for India chip incentives by itself and was exploring new companions. 

Foxconn didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Reuters is first to report its talks with Gujarat.

Modi desires to make chipmaking a high precedence in pursuit of a “new era” in electronics manufacturing, however his plan has to date floundered.

Three firms utilized for incentives final yr – the Vedanta-Foxconn JV, Singapore-based IGSS Ventures and international consortium ISMC, which counts Tower Semiconductor as a tech accomplice — however to date no deal has been sealed.

Explaining the Vedanta cut up on Tuesday, Foxconn mentioned “there was recognition from both sides that the project was not moving fast enough” and there have been different “challenging gaps we were not able to smoothly overcome”, with out giving extra particulars.

V. Lee, Foxconn’s consultant in India, wrote on LinkedIn: “Sometimes, you will fly higher when in solo.”

Its talks with Gujarat come weeks after Micron Technology mentioned it is going to make investments as much as $825 million (practically Rs. 6,800 crore) in a semiconductor testing and packaging facility within the state.

© Thomson Reuters 2023