"Bad Idea To Bet Against...": Minister Says Foxconn Exit Won't Hit Goals

The decision of Taiwan's Foxconn to withdraw from a $19.5 billion chip-making venture with Vedanta will have no impact on India's goals in the semiconductor space, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said.

Mr Chandrasekhar, Minister for State for Electronics and IT, said in a Twitter post yesterday that both companies did not have any prior experience in the semiconductor manufacturing sector.

"Its not for govt to get into why or how two private companies choose to partner or choose not to, but in simple terms it means both companies can & will now pursue their strategies in India independently, and wth appropriate technology partners in Semicon n Electronics (sic)," the minister added.

The minister said India's plans in the semiconductor space has seen rapid progress over the past 18 months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the country's new semiconductor policy.

He also hit out at those describing the falling through of the Foxconn-Vedanta joint venture as blow to India's goals in the semiconductor space.

To those editorializing abt this decision of Foxconn/Vedanta being a "blow" to India's Semicon ambition, I can only say its a bad idea to bet against India under PM Modi. India is just getting started," Mr Chandrasekhar tweeted.

Vedanta and Foxconn had signed agreements last September to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat.

In May this year, the joint venture was reported to be "struggling" to tie up with a technology partner since Foxconn and Vedanta had no experience in this new space.

Vedanta-Foxconn 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, news agency Reuters reported in May.

Soon after Foxconn announced its decision to withdraw from the deal, Opposition party Congress took at a swipe at the ruling BJP.

"Remember the publicity at the time of announcing the project? Gujarat CM even claimed 1 lakh jobs will be created! This has been the fate of many MOUs signed in Vibrant Gujarat summits year after year, and will be the fate in other such copycat summits like Global Investor Summits in UP," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.