Days after Apple’s biggest contract manufacturer Foxconn pulled out of a joint venture (JV) deal with Indian conglomerate Vedanta over a semiconductor plant, the Indian state of Gujarat is holding dialogue with the Taiwanese chipset-making giant over a semiconductor facility, news agency Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting a top government official.
“We are in touch with multiple prospective investors, including Foxconn … Gujarat is uniquely positioned to attract top chipmakers,” Vijay Nehra, secretary of the science and technology department in Gujarat was quoted as saying.
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Earlier this week, Foxconn pulled out of the project with Vedanta, which was also planned for PM Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The Taiwanese chip-making giant had cited issues such as slow progress. The breakup of the JV was a setback for Modi’s vision to establish India as a semiconductor manufacturing hub, the report added. However, Foxconn said later it would apply for India chip incentives on its own and was exploring new partners.
Foxconn in a statement had said, “Foxconn is working to remove the Foxconn name from what now is a fully-owned entity of Vedanta. Foxconn has no connection to the entity and efforts to keep its original name will cause confusion for future stakeholders.”
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Meanwhile, the government clarified that Foxconn’s decision to withdraw from its JV with Vedanta has no impact on the country’s semiconductor fabrication goals. “Both Foxconn n Vedanta have significant investments in India and are valued investors who are creating jobs n 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 28nm fab, they could not source appropriate Tech partner for that proposal,” Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar explained, in a detailed post on Twitter.
Even as Foxconn has pulled out of the JV, Indian conglomerate Vedanta has said that it is fully committed to its semiconductor fab project. Taiwan’s Foxconn is a key contract manufacturer of Apple iPhones and the world’s largest too. Foxconn-Vedanta had jointly announced setting up India’s first electronic chipset manufacturing plant in Gujarat.