Foxconn partners HCL Group to start chip packaging in India, invest $37.2 mn: Report

New Delhi:  Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant Foxconn has said that it is teaming up with HCL Group to start a chip packaging and testing venture in India, a media report said on Wednesday.

According to a regulatory filing to Taiwan’s stock exchange, Foxconn Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, a division of the Taiwanese contract manufacturer, will invest $37.2 million for a 40 per cent ownership in the joint venture, reports Moneycontrol.

The chip packaging and testing venture, called OSAT in industry lingo, comes after Foxconn abandoned a joint venture with Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta in July last year.

HCL Group had earlier announced that it was in active talks to establish an OSAT facility with the state government of Karnataka, the report mentioned.

This development comes after the company submitted a fresh application to establish a semiconductor fabrication unit in India under the “modified scheme for setting up semiconductor facilities in India” — a government initiative aimed at promoting the electronics manufacturing sector, including semiconductors, the report added.

“Foxconn has to bring in technology. They have to establish that they have the technology to manufacture semiconductors. The process of verifying the technology and so on is currently underway at the ministry,” a government official was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Foxconn has received approval to invest at least $1 billion more in a plant in India that will manufacture Apple products, a significant step towards its aim of establishing a hub outside of China.

–IANS