Billionaire Agarwal’s chip dream at risk

Ambitious plan: A man walks past the Vedanta headquarters in Mumbai. The company and Hon Hai have no significant chipmaking experience, yet they’re among the first to try to take advantage of India’s ambition to build a semiconductor industry. — Reuters

BILLIONAIRE Anil Agarwal’s plan to build a US$19bil (RM83.7bil) chipmaking plant in India is floundering as his venture struggles to secure a technology partner and faces challenges in obtaining financial incentives from the government.

Seven months after Agarwal announced a chip partnership between his Vedanta Resources Ltd and Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the venture is yet to tie up with a fabrication unit operator or licence manufacturing-grade technology, people familiar with the matter said.