Foxconn on Monday announced that it is pulling out of a joint venture with Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd, which was set up to make semiconductors from Gujarat. "Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta," the electronics maker said in a statement
Vedanta shares fell 2% in early trade on July 11 to hit an intraday day low of Rs 275 on NSE. The scrip ended at Rs 277.75 today, down 1.59%. As the Foxconn-Vedanta tie-up comes to an end, here's a timeline of how things unfolded so far
On February 14, 2022, Foxconn partnered with Vedanta to make semiconductors in India in a bid to diversify its business. Foxconn said it will be "a significant boost to domestic manufacturing of electronics in India"
On September 13, 2022, Vedanta and Foxconn signed pacts to invest $19.5 billion to set up semiconductor and display production. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat was selected for the facilities. A day later, Vedanta's Anil Agarwal said that the Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate does not see funding problems for the JV
On May 19, 2023, MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told news agency Reuters that the Vedanta-Foxconn JV was "struggling" to tie up with a technology partner. Later that month, news reports stated that the JV was proceeding slowly as talks to involve STMicroelectronics were deadlocked
Vedanta-Foxconn JV had reportedly got on board STMicro for licensing technology, but the government had made clear it wants the European chipmaker to have "more skin in the game", such as a stake in the partnership. On June 27, 2023, Vedanta and Foxconn reportedly submitted a revised application, seeking government funding for the manufacturing of 40-nanometer chips instead of 28-nanomter chips
On June 30, 2023, SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Vedanta for issuing a press release that said it has signed MoUs with the government of Gujarat to set up semiconductor and display fab units. The fine was slapped for making a false representation, as it was later clarified to the exchanges that the proposed business would not be undertaken by Vedanta, but by Volcan Investments, which is its ultimate holding entity
On July 7, 2023, Vedanta announced that it would be taking over Twin Star Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volcan Investments, which had undertaken the semiconductor business in India. This acquisition will allow Vedanta to take over the ownership of the JV with Foxconn from its holding company
On Monday, July 10, 2023, Foxconn withdrew from the chip JV, without specifying a reason. "Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta," it said, saying it had worked for more than a year on the project but the two sides had mutually decided to end the JV