Vedanta joins hands with Foxconn to manufacture semiconductors in India

Indian conglomerate Vedanta on Monday said it has signed a pact with electronics manufacturing services giant Foxconn to form a joint venture (JV) for manufacturing semiconductors in India.

Vedanta is the first company to make the announcement to invest in semiconductor manufacturing after the government announced a Rs 76,000-crore programme to boost electronic chip and display ecosystem in the country.

This is also the second attempt of Vedanta to enter the semiconductor space after its earlier plans to set up a display unit with about Rs 60,000 crore investment could not take off.

"According to the MoU (memorandum of understanding) signed between the two companies, Vedanta will hold the majority equity in the JV, while Foxconn will be the minority shareholder," the statement said.

It added that Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal will be the chairman of the joint venture.

The targeted project plans to invest in manufacturing semiconductors.

"It will provide a significant boost to domestic manufacturing of electronics in India.

"Discussions are currently ongoing with a few state governments to finalise the location of the plant," the statement said.

The collaboration between Vedanta and Foxconn follows the government's recent policy announcement for electronics manufacturing and PLI scheme for incentivising organisations to contribute towards the development of this sector.

"This will be the first joint venture in the electronics manufacturing space after the announcement of the policy," the statement added.

Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters