The Indian mining conglomerate Vedanta led by Anil Agarwal, is keen to make India a semiconductor hub, and has promised to produce cheaper, quality and innovative semiconductors and displays, in the next two and a half years. Agarwal, while speaking at India Today Conclave 2023, also shared that his company has signed a memorandum of association (MoUs) with 100 Japanese companies, which will help him achieve this dream. He further foresees over 700-800 companies associating with Vedanta.
Agarwal said this cluster of over 100 companies will help manufacture cheap and quality raw materials (semiconductors and display), which can be used in manufacturing electronics in India, which is not profitable today.
In February 2022, in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to make India a semiconductor nation, Vedanta had applied for both, semiconductor and display manufacturing in India. For semiconductor manufacturing, it had teamed up with Taiwan’s Foxconn to apply for the Semiconductor Scheme and has shortlisted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, Gujarat, for setting up its semiconductor and display fab and progressing with its plan.
The Vedanta Foxconn joint venture had signed an agreement with the Gujarat government to invest Rs 1,54,000 crore to set up a semiconductor plant and had finalised Dholera Special Investment Region near Ahmedabad for setting up the factory.
Even at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year, Agarwal promised the ground-breaking ceremony for building the semiconductor fab in 30-40 days (around February end). However, the company hasn’t progressed with the plans yet.
Agarwal said that Modi’s vision and targets do not consider bureaucratic red tape. He said, “Prime Minister Modi is always in a hurry but the government officials want everything to be in place and non-questionable even after five years. Hence, is taking time to progress with the semiconductor scheme.”
But as per the information available with Business Today, the India Semiconductor Mission is waiting for Vedanta-Foxconn JV to onboard a technology partner with a production-grade license to give the go-ahead for the next phase.
Also, as setting up a fab requires expertise, which both Vedanta and Foxconn lag, the former who holds the larger share in the JV, has solved this problem by hiring David Reed as the CEO of the semiconductor business. A 35-year veteran in the semiconductor industry, Reed has worked at NXP, Global Foundries and Texas Instruments and will be responsible for setting up a state-of-the-art semiconductor fab unit and semiconductor assembling and testing unit for Vedanta in India. Industry experts believe Reed can help close Vedanta’s discussions with leading fabs for production-grade licenses.
Agarwal also believes that it will change India's world once India excels in its semiconductor manufacturing plans. It’s India’s time to enter first-world countries, and semiconductor and electronics manufacturing can power them.
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