Anil Agarwal’s $19 billion semiconductor-making ambitions in India were dealt another setback after his Taiwanese partner decided to part ways with the billionaire’s Vedanta Ltd. on a planned joint venture.
Hon Hai Technology Group, also known as Foxconn, will not move forward on the project with Vedanta, it said in a statement Monday, adding that the decision was based on a mutual agreement.
“Foxconn is working to remove the Foxconn name from what now is a fully-owned entity of Vedanta,” it said.
Last week, Vedanta said it will acquire the semiconductor and display glass units from a group company. The foray into the electronics manufacturing sector has been stymied mainly due to a delay in state financing for the chip venture. The Indian government had asked the Vedanta-Foxconn chip venture to reapply for incentives as the original plan to make 28 nanometer chips had changed.
Foxconn eventually acquired manufacturing-grade technology for producing 40 nanometer chips, Vedanta had said.
Vedanta said later on Monday that it is fully committed to its semiconductor project and has lined up other partners to set up India’s first foundry.
“We have the license for production-grade technology for 40 nm from a prominent integrated device manufacturer,” it said in a statement, without specifying who it had acquired the technology from. “We will shortly acquire a license for production-grade 28 nm as well.”
India’s minister of state for technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a tweet that Foxconn’s decision has no impact on India’s ambitions.
Author: Debby Wu, Swansy Afonso and Sankalp Phartiyal
