Foxconn chairman talks with Prime Minister Modi, MeitY and Vedanta Group, Telecom News, ET Telecom

CHENNAI / DELHI: Foxconn President Young Liu briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior members of the Union Cabinet in New Delhi on Thursday on the plans of the Taiwanese manufacturer of electronic devices to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India. people who are aware of the meeting said.

Foxconn will investigate EV manufacturing and build on its portfolio of electronic products made at its units here, sources told ET.

Liu’s visit to India – which is the first – comes a day after ET reported that the contractor of Apple iPhones is considering EV manufacturing here as part of a plan to expand its Asian manufacturing supply chain beyond China .

The Foxconn delegation, the sources added, briefed senior and junior IT ministers and government officials on the EV plans. The details, such as whether Foxconn would build a greenfield plant or buy an existing factory, will be decided soon, an official said.

Sources in the government said the meeting with Liu was very “cordial” and he said that India was scaling up as a destination for electronics manufacturing and rapidly emerging as an alternative to other Asian countries.

According to sources, Liu is expected to meet more government officials “over the next few days.”

Technical teams from both sides will now sit together and take out the fine print, they added.

Liu also met with Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao and is expected to meet with more state governments in the coming days.

“I welcome their (Foxconn’s) plans to expand electronic manufacturing capacity in India, including in semiconductors. Our pursuit of EV manufacturing is in line with our commitment to Net Zero Emission, ”Modi said in a Twitter post on Thursday. Liu also met with Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar. .

“He (Liu) has expressed great interest in manufacturing electronics, semiconductors and EVs in India,” Vaishnaw said in a tweet.

Liu also met with Vedanta Group’s global managing director of display and semiconductor business, Akarsh Hebbar, to discuss the next steps for their proposed partnership to manufacture semiconductor chips in India, the company said in a statement.

Vedanta and Foxconn have previously said they will set up a business for a multi-billion-dollar semiconductor factory, with a $ 10 billion incentive scheme.

The two companies signed an MoU in February to form a joint venture in India where Vedanta will hold a 60% stake and Foxconn the rest.

“This is the first joint venture in the electronic manufacturing space following the announcement of the government’s PLI semiconductor and display manufacturing scheme,” the companies said. -10 years to build screens and semiconductor chips in India. The JV will look into setting up a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the next two years. ”

Vedanta and Foxconn are also in talks with some state governments to finalize the location of the semiconductor unit soon. The partnership aims to arrest the electronic component import account of about $ 100 billion in the coming years.

While EVs form a key part of Foxconn’s plans to enter futuristic business segments, India has committed to zero net carbon emissions – the removal of as much carbon dioxide as is produced and released into the atmosphere – by 2070, according to a commitment was made by the Prime Minister. last year at the Cop-26 UN meeting on climate change.