Foxconn ends chip pact with Vedanta

Vedanta says it will go ahead with chip, display plans on its own

- Gulveen Aulakh

Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group on Monday pulled out of its joint venture (JV) with Vedanta Ltd, which had planned to invest $20 billion in India to build units for semiconductor fabrication, assembly and testing, and display manufacturing.

The partnership planned to set up India's first chip manufacturing unit under a $10 billion government-backed financial incentive scheme and was once estimated to be ahead of two other consortia in the fray for getting the sops.

The government downplayed the development, saying the differences between the two companies did not impact India's plans to become a semiconductor manufacturing destination. "Both companies are fully committed to developing India's semiconductor industry, and they're fully committed to Make in India," Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of electronics and information technology, said, noting the announcements will not impact India's semiconductor mission.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, tweeted that it was well-known that both firms had no prior experience or technology and were expected to source fab technology from a technology partner.