Multinational mining company Vedanta Limited has chosen Gujarat for its $20 billion semiconductor project. A joint venture with Taiwan’s Foxconn, the project is Vedanta’s first major step towards diversification into the chip-making industry. Headquartered in Mumbai, the firm has its main operations in iron ore, gold and aluminium mining in Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Odisha.
Maharashtra had wooed the oil-to-metal major for months to get the semiconductor business. Telangana and Karnataka were also vying for the project. Observers said the development will warm the cockles of the ruling BJP in Gujarat that goes to polls this December.
Sources indicated that Vedanta opted for our neighbouring state as its government offered irresistible financial and non-financial subsidies on capital expenditure and cheap electricity to build its plants near Ahmedabad.
Reliable Secretariat sources claimed that Vedanta wanted 1,000 acres of land free on a 99-year lease, along with water and power at concessional rates as well as unchanging prices for 20 years.
An official announcement is expected this week after the formal inking of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the honchos from Vedanta.
India is learnt to be aggressively trying to woo firms the world over to take electronics manufacturing to the next level with seamless access to chips.
Industry estimates predict the semiconductor market to touch $63 billion by 2026 from $15 billion in 2020. Most of the world’s chip production is restricted to a handful of countries, including Taiwan, and the latest entrant is India.
