Vedanta Semiconductors and Display are planning to set up their Semiconductor, display fab plant in Gujarat and are now awaiting government approval for the same. This comes after Vedanta and electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn on July 10 called off their joint venture, which planned to invest $19.5 billion to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in Gujarat.
Vedanta has however said that it plans to go ahead with its semiconductor business venture despite Foxconn pulling out of the JV. Vedanta semiconductor head Akarsh K Hebbar on July 18 said that the company "remains fully committed to building India’s first semiconductor and display fabs in Dholera Special Investment Region in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat." Regarding this, Hebbar added that substantial progress has happened to tie up technology and equity partners in semiconductors and we will make an announcement soon.
Vedanta has previously collaborated with Taiwan's Innolux for display fab manufacturing. The group's Chairman, Anil Agarwal, recently announced the company's entry into the market for chip and display manufacturing this year.
While the exact details of the new partners have not been disclosed, news agency Reuters had previously reported that deadlocked talks with European chipmaker STMicroelectronics and delayed incentive approvals were contributing factors to Foxconn's withdrawal.
In the meantime, the Gujarat government is in talks with Foxconn for a seperate semiconductor planr and even the Taiwanese company has expressed its internship to apply for incentives under India’s semiconductor production plan.
Semiconductors are materials which have a conductivity between conductors (generally metals) and nonconductors or insulators. They have an important role in the fabrication of electronic devices and without semiconductors there would be no radios, no TV's, no computers, no video games, and poor medical diagnostic equipment. The world recently faced a semiconductor shortage in 2020 as demand for electronic goods went up as a result of the lockdown but the supply was limited as many plants were forced to shut down because of the restrictions. This had resulted in the shortage of a range of electronic devices and even cars and other vehicles.