Apart from the Vedanta-Foxconn consortium, the government has received five other bids to commence semiconductor fabrication units.
The Indian global conglomerate Vedanata and the Taiwan based global contract manufacturer Foxconn are now expected to partner STMicroelectronics in their upcoming semiconductor manufacturing plant in India. This is according to some anonymous people in the company familiar with the matter. Back in February, when the joint venture was proclaimed, Foxconn had said that they would be the lead associate. The anonymous person who shared the information with the media has also stated that the government is very much optimistic with this JV with Foxconn that has assured to do huge investments in India.
The Vedanta-Foxconn JV is one of the five applicants that are looking to grab the incentives from the PLI scheme of Rs 76,000 crore announced in December 2021 to boost the growth of semiconductor industry in the country. Experts in the company added that this association with STMicro is a necessity because in this kind of JV, a pure semiconductor technology maker can offer huge knowledge and skills in chip manufacturing. The government has assured to bear 50 percent of the venture cost, coupled with the other incentives.
Apart from the Vedanta-Foxconn consortium, the government has received five other bids to commence semiconductor fabrication units such as Next Orbit Ventures that has associated with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and also Singapore based IGSS Ventures. Tower Semiconductor has now been purchased by Intel and is awaiting regulatory approvals. In regards to the Joint Venture, there are several expectations, but again an anonymous person who knows about the government plans and regulations has told ET that “mine-to-metal conglomerate “will remain a partner, but will not be the lead partner as it has no prior experience in chip manufacturing.”
The same person also added that Foxconn has assured to invest $70-80 billion towards chip manufacturing in India. Now, as per the report of ET, “The government is okay with Vedanta being a junior partner, but not an operating partner, in the venture. If the Foxconn-Vedanta partnership doesn't work out, Foxconn can do it on their own (chip manufacturing in India).” “The government is keen that the project goes ahead with the best technology partners. And we are aligned with the government on this,” a representative for Vedanta said in response to email queries from ET.
