Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and Indian conglomerate Adani Group will invest 8,394.7 crore rupees ($10 billion) in semiconductor projects in the western state of Maharashtra, the state’s chief minister announced on Thursday.
Prime Minister Eknath Shinde approved four major projects worth a combined 1.17 trillion rupees ($14 billion), focused on manufacturing semiconductors and electric vehicles, he said in a post on the X platform.
Shinde said the projects in Marathwada, Panvel, Pune and Vidarbha are expected to create 29,000 jobs.
Shinde’s investment in Tower Semiconductor, part of the project announced, will see the Israeli company set up a facility in Panvel, Raigad district. IPF Online reported that the company plans to split the investment into two phases, investing 587.63 billion rupees ($7 billion) in the first phase and 251.84 billion rupees (S$3 billion) in the second phase.
Al-Monitor has reached out to Tower Semiconductor for comment.
Tower Semiconductor, one of the largest microchip companies, has a market capitalization of about $4.6 billion.
India is now looking to position itself as one of the largest microchip producers by encouraging foreign companies to set up manufacturing facilities there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February approved $15.2 billion worth of investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing plants, including a proposal by local conglomerate Tata Group to build the country’s first large-scale semiconductor manufacturing facility.
Modi visited Singapore this week and signed a pact to boost microchip production in India, building on the country’s decades of experience in the sector. Singapore accounts for about 10% of global semiconductor production and 20% of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Despite Prime Minister Modi’s efforts to boost India’s microchip market, there have been several setbacks recently to the development of the industry in the subcontinent.
In July 2023, a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture between Indian company Vedanta and Taiwanese conglomerate Foxconn fell apart after the Taiwanese side pulled out.
The launch of ISMC, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi-based Next Orbit Ventures and Tower Semiconductor to invest $3 billion in India, has been delayed.
