Foxconn ends chip pact with Vedanta

livemint.com:

New Delhi: Foxconn Technology Group has pulled out of its joint venture with Vedanta Ltd that had planned to invest $20 billion in India for setting up a semiconductor fabrication unit, display unit and semiconductor assembly and testing unit.   The 60:40 partnership could have set up the country’s first semiconductor manufacturing unit under the $10 billion government-backed financial incentive scheme, and was once estimated to be ahead of two other consortia in the fray for getting the sops.   The government however downplayed the development saying that the differences between the two companies did not impact India’s plans to become a semiconductor manufacturing destination.   “Both the companies are fully committed to developing India’s semiconductor industry and they’re fully committed to Make in India," minister of electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw told Mint, noting that the announcements will not have an impact on India’s semiconductor mission.  Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology said in a Twitter post following the announcements that it was well known that both companies had no prior experience or technology and were expected to source fab technology from a technology partner.  "While their JV VFSL had originally submitted a proposal for 28nm fab, they could not source appropriate tech partner for that proposal.

Vedanta thru VFSL has recently submitted a 40nm fab proposal backed by tech licensing agreement from a global semicon major - which is currently being evaluated by the tech advisory group under the Indian Semiconductor Mission," he added.  Chandrasekhar noted that Foxconn and Vedanta, that had significant investments in India, both will