In a move to strengthen India’s position in the global semiconductor landscape under India Semiconductor Mission, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a joint venture between HCL and Foxconn to set up the country’s sixth semiconductor unit. During the Cabinet briefing, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the HCL-Foxconn JV will set up the semiconductor plant near the upcoming Jewar airport in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) region.
“The facility will have a capacity of 20,000 wafers per month and produce 36 million display driver chips monthly,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw. This plant will manufacture display driver chips for mobile phones, laptops, automobiles, PCs, and a myriad of other devices that have displays. These will be used in mobile phones, laptops, automobiles, personal computers, and other devices. He further said that the plant will be made with a capital outlay of Rs 3,700 crore and will have potential to create 2,000 jobs.
This is the sixth semiconductor unit approved under the mission, with five other facilities already in advanced stages of construction.
The government maintained that the semiconductor industry is now shaping up across the country and world-class design facilities have come up in many states across the country.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said that although Foxconn had attempted to enter India’s semiconductor sector in the past, those earlier proposals did not move forward. This time, he added, the company has found the right technology partner in HCL.
Earlier, Foxconn had entered into a JV with Vedanta in 2022 to manufacture semiconductors in India. In September 2022, the JV announced plans to set up a semiconductor and display fabrication unit in Gujarat, with an investment of $19.5 billion. The JV, however, was dissolved in July 2023 after Foxconn withdrew from the partnership, citing challenges in project execution.