One of several Foxconn manufacturing facilities in India — image credit: Foxconn
India’s government is investing in a new Foxconn semiconductor facility, which it hopes will ultimately see the country making chips for Apple.
As Trump criticizes Apple for Foxconn’s manufacturing the iPhone in India, the supplier has secured government approval for a new semiconductor plant there. Foxconn is already planning to double iPhone production in India by the end of 2025, but now it’s going to expand manufacturing of display drivers for smartphones and other consumer electronics.
According to CNBC, the approval is for a joint venture between Foxconn and the HCL Group. The approval comes with an investment by the government of $433 million, though it is not clear what the total cost of the factory will be.
It is known that the plant is to be built in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. The facility is expected to be operational by 2027, according to Indian information minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The factory is planned to be able to produce up to 20,000 wafers per month. From that, it is expected to make up to 36 million display driver chips.
According to Techcrunch, however, the plant will not initially be a chip fabrication facility. It will instead be a semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility.
There is as yet no indication that Foxconn’s plant will make or assemble semiconductors for Apple. However, minister Vaishnaw says India hopes this deal will lead to the country making processors for Apple.
The partnership with the HCL Group to build the new facility follow’s Foxconn’s February 2022 plans for a similar project with India’s Vedanta company. However, Foxconn withdrew from the deal in July 2022, for unspecified reasons.
Separately, the HCL Group’s subsidiary, HCL Infosystems, was previously an iPhone distributor in India. In 2018, though, it lost the contract as Apple revamped its list of Indian distribution firms.
