INDIA. Mumbai: Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Limited and Taiwan’s Foxconn signed a Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government for setting up a semiconductor and display fabrication (FAB) manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad district with an investment of over Rs 1.54 lakh crore on Tuesday.
With this development, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Government in Maharashtra suffered humiliation since, about six weeks back, it had claimed that the Maharashtra state was a front runner among five other states to get the project.
Shinde remained silent, but Fadnavis travelled to Moscow, Russia, to formally unveil the statue of Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe and engage with the Indian community there. The members of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), took advantage of the chance to criticise the Shinde-led administration for failing to keep the project with Maharashtra.
NCP Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena MLA Aditya Thackeray said that the then MVA Government had made every effort to ensure that the project came to Maharashtra. However, now the state lost it due to the lop-sided policies of the Shinde-led Government.
According to the Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) signed between Vedanta and the Gujarat Government in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, and Chairman of Vedanta Group Anil Agarwal, the Vedanta Group-Foxconn JV anticipates a total investment of Rs. 1,54,000 crore and the creation of approximately 1 lakh jobs. It will be built on a 1000-acre plot of land.
The proposed semiconductor manufacturing fab unit will use 28nm technology nodes, and the proposed display manufacturing unit will create Generation 8 displays for small, medium, and large applications. In the JV, Foxconn will own 40% of the equity while Vedanta will own 60%. In the following two years, the JV will consider opening a manufacturing facility for semiconductors.
Ironically enough, the Maharashtra government had claimed that it had signed an initial agreement with Vedanta on July 26 and had also claimed that Maharashtra had edged out Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh, which were eyeing this huge investment.
After the international consortium ISMC and Singapore-based IGSS Ventures, which have established operations in the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively, Vedanta is the third company to announce the location of a chip plant in India. India wants to be self-sufficient in this crucial technology because China and Taiwan currently control most of the global chip market.
A few months back, Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched the India Semiconductor Mission. Under the policy, the government will provide Rs 76000 crore incentives for companies setting up manufacturing facilities in India. The government encouraged companies to set up chip manufacturing plants in India.
At present, India has two fabrication facilities (fab). One is the Society for Integrated Circuit Technology and Applied Research (SITAR) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Bengaluru in Karnataka and a semiconductor laboratory in Chandigarh, which builds silicon chips for strategic purposes like defence and space and not for commercial use.
Semiconductors are substances with conductivities halfway between those of conductors and insulators. Gallium, arsenide, or cadmium selenide are examples of compounds. Pure elements like silicon or germanium are also possible. They are the fundamental components acting as the brain and heart of all contemporary electronics and information and communications technology products. These chips are now a standard component of modern cars, household appliances, and crucial medical equipment like ECG machines.
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