A Foxconn unit and HCL Group are set to enter a joint venture to set up a chip packaging and testing facility in India as the long-time Apple Inc. partner diversifies from China.
Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development—a subsidiary of the Taiwanese parent Foxconn—will invest $37.2 million for a 40% stake, as disclosed in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. The remaining stake will be held by HCL.
The two entities will together set up an outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing facility. Such facilities are not fabrication plants and instead provide third-party chip packaging and testing services to fab units.
"HCL Group plans to partner with Foxconn Group to establish OSAT operations in India. HCL Group has a strong engineering and manufacturing heritage and this is an opportunity that provides strategic adjacency to the group portfolio... More details will be shared at the appropriate time," an HCL Group spokesperson said.
On Tuesday, NDTV Profit reported that Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said two "serious" proposals for semiconductor fabrication plants, three for outsourced semiconductor assembly and test facilities, and four for compound semiconductor fabs, had been received and were under review.
Over the course of 2023, Foxconn has been amping up investments in India on the back of geopolitical tensions with neighbour China. Chairman Young Liu had also referred to India as a market with "positive energy."
The semiconductor-making giant had earlier committed to investing over $2 billion in India over the next five years. In May, it laid the foundation for a new electronics manufacturing facility in Telangana, committing about $550 million, or around Rs 4,500 crore.
In July, after its semiconductor joint venture with India's Vedanta Ltd. fell through, it signed a Letter of Intent with the Tamil Nadu government to establish a new mobile component manufacturing facility for Rs 1,600 crore in Kancheepuram, with the potential to generate 6,000 jobs.
In August, the company also signed a similar agreement with the Karnataka government to undertake two marquee projects in the state, with an estimated investment worth Rs 5,000 crore.
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