Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, said it is partnering with India’s HCL Group to start a chip packaging and testing venture in the country.
As per a filing on the Taiwanese stock exchange, Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, a unit of the Taiwanese contract manufacturer, will invest $37.2 million for a 40% stake in the joint venture.
Foxconn has also submitted fresh applications to establish a semiconductor fabrication unit in India under the PLI scheme, as Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of IT, disclosed in the parliament in December.
With this, it appears that Foxconn’s ambitions in semiconductors are in motion again.
Last July, Foxconn dissolved its joint venture with mining conglomerate Vedanta for a chip fabrication unit. While it appears that it has no Indian partner for the fabrication unit that it plans to set up. The JV with HCL Group will result in another Micron-like chip packaging and testing facility in India soon.
Foxconn’s current business in India is largely restricted to the manufacturing of iPhones in the country. It is the world’s largest assembler of iPhones, and it has moved part of its operations to India as part of the China+1 strategy of many tech firms that wish to diversify their supply chains amidst US-China tensions.
Along with Tata and Pegatron, Foxconn is the contract manufacturing partner for Apple in India. Foxconn contributes to 68 per cent of the total production of iPhones in India.
Last November, Foxconn also announced that it would invest another $1.6 billion as part of its China+1 push.
While the exact specifics of the investments were not known. For Apple products specifically, it is also planning to invest ₹8,800 crore in Karnataka to set up an iPhone component unit, which will create 14,000 new jobs. It is also looking at other sites in Tumakuru city, Karnataka, to manufacture other iPhone accessories.