Vedanta says semiconductor business can rake in $3 billion annually

Diversified conglomerate Vedanta has projected peak annual revenue potential from its semiconductor wafer and display manufacturing businesses at $3 billion, according to documents it presented at the Semicon West industry conference in the United States recently.

Vedanta executives said at the conference that the company would target volumes of 240,000 sheets a month for its integrated display fab built at a $12 billion investment, and about 50,000 Wafer Starts Per Month (WSPM) from the semiconductor factory.

Vedanta said it would partner with Taiwanese contract phone maker Foxconn for its semiconductor foray. Foxconn, Vedanta said in the presentation, runs three wafer fabs in the six- and eight-inch category in Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia.


Vedanta’s semiconductor fab, however, would be a 300-millimetre (12-inch) wafer producer.

Akarsh Hebbar, the global managing director of Vedanta’s display and semiconductor business division, told ET previously that the joint venture would focus on selling the semiconductor wafers to smartphone manufacturers, and appliance makers.

“We have started talking to customers and developing MoUs with them,” he said, qualifying the talks as ‘preliminary.’

Vedanta did not respond to ET’s email on its projected peak annual revenue potential.

Executives present during Vedanta’s presentation at Semicon West told ET that the company had also begun negotiations with key suppliers for the semiconductor project, such as those providing lithography services.

Vedanta is closely considering Talegoan (near Pune) for its proposed $21 billion investment across several phases, after technical assessment of offers from five states including Gujarat and Karnataka.

In a statement on Tuesday, Maharashtra said Talegaon had emerged as a “prominent option” for the Vedanta-Foxconn venture, with the potential to develop over 200,000 jobs, and that several rounds of discussions between Vedanta and government officials had been “fruitful.”

Vedanta-Foxconn’s interest is in line with the state’s target to develop a 10,000-acre hi-tech electronics manufacturing cluster in Pune.

“For this, Vedanta, along with Foxconn, can play a pivotal role as the anchor investor in creating the next Silicon Valley,” chief minister Eknath Shinde said in the statement.

With Vedanta inching closer to a deal with Maharashtra for its semiconductor entry, it appears all set to join Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as the victors among fierce contestants to bag investments under the government’s $10 billion incentive scheme for the semiconductor industry.