Shares of Vedanta on Tuesday declined by nearly 3 per cent after Taiwan's Foxconn withdrew from a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture (JV) with mining baron Anil Agarwal's comoany. On Tuesday, the stock slipped 2.60 per cent to Rs 274.90 on the BSE. On the NSE, it fell by 2.56 per cent to Rs 275.
On Monday, Foxconn has withdrawn from a $19.5 billion semiconductor JV with Vedanta Ltd as the venture struggled to get a technology partner to make chips that are used in mobile phones to refrigerators and cars. Foxconn, best known for assembling iPhones and other Apple products, and Vedanta last year signed a pact to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat.
European chipmaker STMicroelectronics was being roped in as a technology partner for the venture but talks were deadlocked.
Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, in a statement said it "has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta. Foxconn said, "Foxconn is working to remove the Foxconn name from what now is a fully-owned entity of Vedanta. Foxconn has no connection to the entity and efforts to keep its original name will cause confusion for future stakeholders." However, the project was proceeding slowly as talks to rope in European chipmaker STMicroelectronics as a partner got deadlocked, Reuters reported last month.
Agarwal's metals-to-oil conglomerate responded saying it was "fully committed to its semiconductor fab project and we have lined up other partners to set up India's first foundry". It however did not give details of the new partners.
Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said Foxconn's decision to withdraw from its JV with Vedanta has no impact on the country's semiconductor fabrication goals. Even as Foxconn has pulled out of the JV, Indian conglomerate Vedanta has said that it is fully committed to its semiconductor fab project. Taiwan's Foxconn is a key contract manufacturer of Apple iPhones and the world's largest too.