Indian conglomerate Vedanta Ltd and Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government on Tuesday to set up a semiconductor and display FAB manufacturing unit in the state.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, at an event held in Gandhinagar. Both the firms would invest Rs 1.54 lakh crore to set up the facility in Gujarat which would create one lakh job opportunities, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said on the occasion. Patel also said his government will provide cooperation to set up the facility and to make it a success.
According to a news release by Department of Science and Technology, the proposed investment for setting up of India’s first display manufacturing fab unit and an integrated semiconductor fab unit with OSAT facility will further support the development of upstream and downstream electronics manufacturing clusters and establishing of healthy trade linkages.
The Vedanta and Foxconn Group will work closely with the state government to establish high-tech clusters with requisite infrastructure, including land, semiconductor grade water, high quality power, logistics, and a skill ecosystem.
The proposed chip manufacturing unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes with wafer size 300mm; and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications.
Gujarat CM assured all necessary support from the Government, and remarked that the Vedanta and Foxconn group will get with red carpet in Gujarat instead of any red tape.
Vaishnaw said the importance of this investment viz-a-viz Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for achieving self-reliance in the field of semiconductor manufacturing.
At the MoU exchange ceremony, Brain Ho from Foxconn said that this decision of finalising Gujarat for the prospective semiconductor and display fab units, was a culmination of extensive analysis of possible project sites in India and across the world, over a multiplicity of factors by sectoral experts.
Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agrawal said that Gujarat has had a long history of having an investor-friendly atmosphere and a robust manufacturing base.
Other states, including Maharashtra, Telangana, and Karnataka had also been in the running to host Vedanta-Foxconn's mega project. But in the last leg of negotiations in recent weeks, Gujarat pipped Maharashtra to the post.
According to the government, India's semiconductor market is estimated to reach $63 billion by 2026 from $15 billion in 2020.