Foxconn announced an expansion in its investments in India, signing an MoU with the government of Telangana for electronics manufacturing amid its accelerated diversification efforts into the South Asian country. On the other hand, the world's largest electronics manufacturer reportedly plans to invest in another iPhone plant in Karnataka.
According to IANS and Hindustan Times, after a meeting between Foxconn chairman Young Liu and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (often known as KCR), Foxconn and the state signed an MoU to set up a manufacturing facility that is expected to generate more than 100,000 jobs in the next ten years.
The investment sum remains undisclosed, and the exact location is yet to be decided; however, KCR said the state government would provide all kinds of support to Foxconn for its operations in the state. Meanwhile, Liu said Foxconn has studied Telangana extensively and praised the friendly industrial development ecosystem created in the state.
The MoU between Foxconn and Telangana came after Liu met with India's prime minister Narendra Modi on February 28 and an inauguration event of T-Works, which would be India's largest hardware prototyping center.
IANS quoted Liu saying that people can do so many things with such a facility, adding that he was impressed by the speed with which this world-class facility has been built.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter saying that Foxconn plans to invest about US$700 million to build a plant for iPhone parts, also potentially for EV parts, on a 300-acre site near the airport of Bengaluru, Karnataka. The plant is reportedly expected to generate 100,000 jobs, and it remains to be seen whether the plant would imply new production capacity or a capacity shift from China.
Telangana, a new state formed in June 2014 by separating from Andhra Pradesh, boasts Hyderabad, one of India's ITeS hubs, as its capital and largest city. Since its formation, Telangana has been attracting electronics manufacturers to the state. Telangana is running two electronics manufacturing clusters and setting up another two, eyeing to create employment opportunities for about 1.6 million people, Telangana Today reports.
Telangana has been actively engaging Taiwanese companies to invest in the state, and according to DIGITIMES Asia, a delegation from the state visited Taiwan twice within six months, meeting with Liu and Sidney Lu, CEO of Foxconn Interconnected Technology, in early January.
According to the government of Telangana, the state, where more than 250 electronics companies operate, contributes to 6% of electronics production in India. The state launched Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) policy to incentivize investments in electronics.
Meanwhile, according to The Economic Times, Liu and Foxconn's delegation will visit Telangana's neighboring state Karanata, where the fabless semiconductor, electronics, and EV ecosystem are in place. Currently, Foxconn manufactures products in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, all located in southern India.
