A day after pulling out of the joint venture with Vedanta, iPhone assembler Foxconn on Tuesday said that it had plans to apply for incentives offered by India under its semiconductor manufacturing policy.
In a statement, Foxconn said that it was working toward applying under the government’s “Modified Programme for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem,” a reworked $10 billion plan offering financial incentives of up to 50% of capital costs for semiconductor and display manufacturing projects.
The world’s largest contract electronics maker further said that it is committed to India and sees the country successfully establishing a robust semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, and is working toward submitting an application.
Notably, the iPhone assembler had parted ways with Vedanta on a $19.5 billion chipmaking joint venture.
Clarifying the withdrawal from the joint venture, Foxconn said that “there was recognition from both sides that the project was not moving fast enough” and there were other “challenging gaps we were not able to smoothly overcome.”
While no further detail was given, the company said that “this is not a negative.”
The company further said that it is in active talks with several local and international partners to build up semiconductor production in India using mature chip manufacturing technology for products including electric vehicles.
On the Vedanta-Foxconn breakup, India’s IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that it will not have an impact on the country’s goals in the semiconductor space.