Vedanta shares in focus as Foxconn pulls out of $19.5 billion JV

Shares of Vedanta will be in focus on Tuesday morning after Foxconn said it was pulling out of a $19.5 billion joint venture with Vedanta Ltd that was set up to make semiconductors from India. A Vedanta spokesperson, however, said the Anil Agarwal company is fully committed to its semiconductor fab project and that it has lined up other partners to set up India’s first foundry.

Foxconn on Monday said it would not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta. Foxconn is working to remove the Foxconn name from what now is a fully-owned entity of Vedanta, it said in a statement.

"We will continue to grow our Semiconductor team, and we have the license for production-grade technology for 40 nm from a prominent Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM). We will shortly acquire a license for production-grade 28 nm as well. Vedanta has redoubled its efforts to fulfil the Prime Minister's vision for semiconductors and India remains pivotal in repositioning global semiconductor supply chains," the Vedanta spokesperson said.

Shares of Vedanta are down 11 per cent year-to-date against a 1.58 per cent drop in the BSE Metal index during the same period.

The Vedanta news came after Vedanta on Friday said it would take over from its holding company the ownership of a joint venture with Taiwan's Foxconn that was set up to make semiconductors.

The Vedanta board on Friday approved acquisition of 100 per cent of Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductors Private Limited and Vedanta Displays, wholly owned subsidiaries of Twin Star Technologies Limited via share transfer at face value. TSTL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volcan Investments Limited, the ultimate holding company of Vedanta Limited.

The Vedanta Foxconn JV recently re-submitted an application to set up an electronic chip manufacturing plant. under the modified semiconductor programme.

Under the modified programme, the government increased the fiscal incentives to 50 per cent of the project cost for setting up semiconductor Fabs in India of any nodes. Similarly, the fiscal incentive of 50 per cent of the project cost is available for setting up Display Fabs of specified technologies in India.

The Vedanta JV was looking to manufacture chips of 40nm (nanometres) and then move to 28nm on the factory line with a capacity of 40,000 wafers per month. The JV was looking to invest Rs1.54 lakh crore to setup display and semiconductor fabrication units (63:37).

As per a Morgan Stanley July 3 note, the JV was scouting for third equity partner. As per the report the consortium was also discussing the possibility of a JV with STMicroelectronics, making it a technology partner.

"But talks have reportedly stalled, as STMicro apparently wants to limit the scope of technology transfer and have a sunset clause (5-10 years) regarding the duration of JV (link). STMicro also wants Vedanta group to contribute a higher share of investment. To receive government approval the applicant should either own a fabrication unit for semiconductor chips (in the 65-28nm range) or possess production grade licensed technologies to make the 28nm chips," Morgan Stanley said on July 3.

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