Foxconn, the world’s largest tech manufacturer, has pulled out from a vaunted $19.5B joint venture to build a semiconductor plant in India.
Foxconn is kinda a big deal:
- 📱 It makes products for giants like Apple, Microsoft and IBM
- 🧑🏭 It employs three quarters of a million folks worldwide, and
- 💰 And it rakes in almost a quarter trillion in revenues each year.
The Taiwanese company didn’t say why the deal fell through, but reports suggest it’s related to delays in Indian government incentives and approvals.
Intrigue’s take: Prime Minister Modi has been looking to boost this sector for a decade, and he seemed to have the wind at his back: Foxconn was just one of many spooked firms looking at India as a way to diversify away from China.
So just as this deal’s announcement was a real head-turning moment for India last year, its cancellation will now turn heads too.
Also worth noting:
- Prime Minister Modi launched his ‘Make in India’ initiative in 2014, aimed at boosting Indian manufacturing.
- Foxconn’s plant was slated for possible construction in Gujarat, India’s manufacturing hub and Prime Minister Modi’s home state.
- Foxconn already has (lower tech) factories in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
