The groundbreaking ceremony of Vedanta-Foxconn’s semiconductor plant in Gujarat will happen in 30-40 days, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal said on Thursday.
“We are looking to have a ground-breaking ceremony in 30-40 days’ time, which is very important,” he said while speaking to Business Today TV’s Managing Editor Siddharth Zarabi on the sidelines of World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, Switzerland. “We have all the tie-ups with Inolex, Foxconn…in 2.5 years we will have chips to India and outside world,” Agarwal said.
In September last year, Agarwal announced that Vedanta Semiconductors Ltd, a joint venture between Vedanta and Foxconn, will set up a semiconductor plant in Gujarat. “Vedanta’s landmark investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore will help make India’s Atmanirbhar Silicon Valley a reality,” he had said.
However, in December, Bloomberg reported that Vedanta was struggling to find financial backers for its planned semiconductor factory. The report said Agarwal’s representatives met with large funds from the Middle East, Singapore, and the US to get financing commitments for the plant. However, the report said, all the funds gave the opportunity a pass leaving them with almost no backers for the project.
Today, when asked how close he was to getting the plant operation, Agarwal said the groundbreaking ceremony is expected in 30-40 days.
The Vedanta chief also talked about the company finalised Gujarat over Maharashtra. He said the company had a very independent team which comprised three consultants, and a Foxconn team. They went around all the states and found that looking at every choice, Gujarat came first. He said Gujarat will only produce raw materials.
“…same investment will be in every state like Karnataka, and Maharashtra, where products like phones, EVs, laptops will be produced. I am looking forward to each state, investment will come, the ecosystem will develop, and a lot of downstream industries will come,” he said.