IANS | 18 Sep, 2023
Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini
Vaishnaw on Monday said the government was "fully committed" to support
Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn's ambitious plans to double its
manufacturing capacity in India.
Foxconn, the world’s largest
contract manufacturer of electronics, is looking at India to set up an
alternative supply chain outside China.
"Fully committed to
support and facilitate," Vaishnaw said on X in response to Foxconn India
representative V Lee's LinkedIn post to mark Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's 73rd birthday in which he said the company was “aiming for
another doubling of employment, FDI (foreign direct investment), and
business size in India” by this time next year.
Foxconn is
the main assembler of Apple iPhones and both companies are keen to move
away from China and create alternative supply chains.
The
Communist giant stands alienated due to its military muscle-flexing in
the South China Sea and dubious role in the spread of the Covid-19
pandemic that destroyed lives and livelihoods across the world.
Foxconn
already has an iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu, which employs 40,000
people and has signed an agreement to invest Rs 1,600 crore in a new
electronics components unit in the state that will create 6,000 jobs.
The
company has also announced that it will be investing an additional Rs
3,300 crore in its manufacturing facility in Telangana. This will take
the total investment of the company in the state to more than Rs 4,550
crore.
The upcoming unit, being set up by Foxconn Interconnect
Technology Ltd (FIT), will manufacture Apple accessories and is located
at Kongara Kalan on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Besides, the
company had also announced in August that it would invest Rs.5,000 crore
($600 million) in Karnataka for two projects in the state to make
casing components for iPhones and for chip-making equipment.
Foxconn
chairman Young Liu had visited India recently to attend the
SemiconIndia 2023 event hosted for global semiconductor companies that
was inaugurated by Narendra Modi in Gandhinagar recently.
Speaking
at the event, the Foxconn chairman said, "I can feel the determination
of the Indian government. I am very optimistic about where it's headed."
He
highlighted the Buffalo Spirit of the Taiwan semiconductor industry,
which is the ability to work hard without complaining and said that the
same spirit could be applied to India.
