Foxconn pledges to find new partner for India chip plan after quitting US$19 billion deal with Vedanta
- ‘Building fabs from scratch in a new geography is a challenge, but Foxconn is committed to investing in India,’ the company said in a statement posted on Twitter
- Neither Foxconn nor Vedanta had experience in chip making, and they failed to source a suitable tech partner for their 28-nanometre chip fab, said India’s IT minister
Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer and a symbol of the global hi-tech supply chain, has pledged to go ahead with its chip-making plan in India, a day after quitting a joint venture with local partner Vedanta.
The Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant said on Tuesday that it was “committed to India and sees the country successfully establishing a robust semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem”, and that it plans to submit an application under a New Delhi plan to cover up to half of the costs of chip making projects.
“Building fabs from scratch in a new geography is a challenge, but Foxconn is committed to investing in India,” it said in a statement posted on Twitter. The company added that it was “actively reviewing the landscape for optimal partners”, hinting that it was open to working with others on a semiconductor project in India.
“Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta,” the company, formally known as Hon Hai Technology Group, said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday evening. “Foxconn is confident about the direction of India’s semiconductor development.”
Vedanta also reiterated its commitment to the chip project, saying it had lined up other partners to continue its efforts to build the country’s first semiconductor foundry.