Days after Taiwan's Foxconn decided to withdraw from a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture with Vedanta, Chairman Anil Agarwal on Wednesday said the company has lined up partners for the semiconductor business. Speaking at the 58th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of mining giant Vedanta, the billionaire also said that Vedanta will begin its historic foray into semiconductor and display fab business this year.

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"Subject to nod, will foray into chip and display fabrication this year. This will open an entirely new avenue of rapid growth for the company in the sector that is strategic for the country," Agarwal said.

Vedanta also plans to spend Rs 14,000 crore on growth projects in FY24. "Committed to make sizeable investment across business verticals in the coming years," he said.

Recently in a statement, Foxconn said the decision to end the joint venture was mutual. Both Foxconn and Vedanta have no prior chip-making experience or technology. They were expected to source it from a technology partner.

Vedanta and Foxconn had signed agreements in September last year to invest $19.5 billion to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat.

As the joint venture comes to an end, Vedanta said it is committed to its semiconductor project and has lined up other partners to set up India's first foundry.

The capital markets regulator SEBI also last month fined Vedanta for breaching disclosure rules by publishing a press statement that made it appear it partnered with Foxconn to make semiconductors in India, as the deal was with Vedanta's holding company.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Twitter that Foxconn exiting the venture would not impact India’s semiconductor ambitions. “It’s not for the government to get into why or how two private companies choose to partner or choose not to, but in simple terms ... both companies can and will now pursue their strategies in India independently, and with appropriate technology partners in Semiconductors and Electronics,” he said.

First Published:Jul 12, 2023 4:04 PM IST