Vedanta Group has chosen Gujarat for setting up its semiconductor manufacturing plant and has signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with the Government of Gujarat to set up a semiconductor fab unit, a display fab unit, and a semiconductor assembling and testing unit in Ahmedabad district of the state.
The proposed semiconductor manufacturing fab unit will operate on the 28nm technology nodes and the display manufacturing unit will produce Generation 8 displays catering to small, medium and large applications. Vedanta plans to invest a total of Rs 1,54,000 crore for the project that will also employ around 1 lakh people.
Earlier in February this year, Vedanta had entered into a joint venture with Foxconn and had applied for the government of India’s semiconductor manufacturing scheme. Vedanta holds 60 per cent of the equity in the JV while Foxconn will own 40 per cent. The JV will look at setting up a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the next two years.
On the signing of the MoUs, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, said, “We are delighted to announce that Gujarat will be the location for our display and semiconductor fab ventures. The state is well known globally for being a manufacturing hub and I hope that India's upcoming, cutting-edge electronics ecosystem will thrive, with every state benefitting to develop their electronic manufacturing hubs. We are privileged to take one step further in supporting Prime Minister Modi's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in this strategic sector.”
Even though the Ministry of IT and Electronics and ISM are yet to approve the first round of applications, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav was present for the signing of the MoU, and said, “The project is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for achieving self-reliance in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. I congratulate Vedanta and Foxconn for taking this initiative and bringing the semiconductor plant to India. The Gujarat plant will go a long way in helping build $1 trillion digital national economy.”
In July this year, the Gujarat government announced the Semiconductor Policy 2022-27, under which the government proposed to offer heavy subsidies on power, water and land tariffs for those interested in investing in semiconductors or display fabrication manufacturing in the state.
Bhupendrabhai Patel, CM, Gujarat, said, “We are extremely proud and happy that the Vedanta-Foxconn JV has selected the industrial state of Gujarat for their semiconductor plant. This is a huge investment coming on the day when we complete 1 year in office which is also a testimony to the policy stability and policy support coupled with good governance & excellent infrastructure facilities existing in Gujarat. We will provide all help to the joint venture so that the plant can start its operations soon.”
As semiconductors and displays are critical to establishing India as an electronics hub, the investments will help attract suppliers and device assemblers to setup base in India. The Indian semiconductor market was valued at $27.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of nearly 19 per cent to reach $64 billion in 2026.
Earlier, ISMC signed an MoU with the Karnataka government to set up a 65nm analog semiconductor fabrication plan in the state.
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