Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal on Saturday said production at its semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in Gujarat will start within two and a half years of the groundbreaking ceremony.

Semiconductor chips, used in cars, mobile phones and other electronic devices, are not manufactured in India at present.

Agarwal said: “My heart and soul is into it and the way the government is supporting, the state government is supporting... I have no doubt that within two and a half years (of the groundbreaking ceremony production will start).”

A joint venture of the Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government earlier to set up a semiconductor and display manufacturing unit in the state.

Vedanta-Foxconn would invest Rs 1,54,000 crore to set up the facility in Gujarat, which would create one lakh job opportunities, chief minister Bhupendra Patel had said after the MoU was signed.

Out of the total investment of Rs 1,54,000 crore, Rs 94,000 crore will go into setting up the display manufacturing unit, while Rs 60,000 crore will be invested for the semiconductor manufacturing facility.

Foxconn to ramp up workforce

New Delhi/Taipei: Apple supplier Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in India over two years, two government officials with knowledge of the matter said, pointing to a production adjustment as it faces disruptions in China.

Foxconn has grabbed headlines in recent weeks, with tight virus restrictions at its Zhengzhou plant, the world’s largest iPhone factory, disturbing production and fuelling concerns over the impact of China’s virus policy on global supply chains.

The disruptions prompted Apple to lower its forecast for shipments of the premium iPhone 14 models this week, dampening its sales outlook for the busy year-end holiday season.

Taiwan-based Foxconn now plans to boost the workforce at its plant in southern India to 70,000 by adding 53,000 more workers over the next two years, said the sources, who declined to be named as the discussions are private.

While the size of the plant in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu is dwarfed by Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, which employs 200,000 workers, it is central to Apple’s efforts to shift production away from China.

Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, opened the India plant in 2019 and has been ramping up production. It began producing iPhone 14 this year.

Reuters