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Even as Foxconn has formally decided to exit the joint venture with Vedanta Group to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in the country, the latter has submitted a fresh proposal to the government on its own.
The JV, Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductors Pvt Ltd, was announced last year with a plan to invest $19.5 billion to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat. Now, Vedanta Group has taken full ownership of the joint venture. Reuters reported that Foxconn will be working towards withdrawing its name from the JV given that Vedanta has full ownership.
It was earlier reported that the JV was not progressing well due to differences in rollout strategies. The initial application submitted by Vedanta for the semiconductor unit was also not approved by the government, hence the company has filed a revised proposal.
MoS for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, clarified that the decision of Foxconn to withdraw from its JV wth Vedanta has no impact on India’s semiconductor fab goals. “Both Foxconn and Vedanta have significant investments in India and are valued investors who are creating jobs and growth. It was well known that both companies had no prior semicon experience or technology and were expected to source fab tech from a tech partner. While their JV, VFSL, had originally submitted a proposal for 28-nm fab, they could not source an appropriate tech partner for that proposal.”
The Minister 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.
‘Redoubled efforts’
Vedanta reiterated that it is fully committed to its semiconductor fab project and have lined up other partners to set up India’s first foundry. “We will continue to grow our semiconductor team, and we have the license for production-grade technology for 40-nm from a prominent Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM). We will shortly acquire a license for production-grade 28-nm as well. Vedanta has redoubled its efforts to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision for semiconductors and India remains pivotal in repositioning global semiconductor supply chains,” said a statement from Vedanta.
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