Foxconn dumps $19.5bn Vedanta chip plan in blow to India
Al JazeeraIndia has made chipmaking a top priority for its economic strategy, and this pullout is a blow to efforts to get investors. Taiwan’s Foxconn has withdrawn from a $19.5bn semiconductor joint venture with Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta, it said, a setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chipmaking plans for India. Modi has made chipmaking a top priority for India’s economic strategy in pursuit of a “new era” in electronics manufacturing, and Foxconn’s move represents a blow to his ambitions of luring foreign investors to make chips locally for the first time. Deputy Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Foxconn’s decision had “no impact” on India’s plans, adding that both companies were “valued investors” in the country. The Vedanta-Foxconn venture announced its chipmaking plans in Gujarat last September, with Modi calling the project “an important step” in boosting India’s chipmaking ambitions.