Tata Group to build semiconductor fab unit in Gujarat

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Wednesday said the Tata Group is on the verge of concluding negotiations to build a "huge semiconductor fab" in Gujarat's Dholera.

"We are about to complete these negotiations and start in 2024," Chandrasekaran says at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.

The cars-to-software conglomerate is also building a 20-gigawatt-hours lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Sanand, Gujarat. "The project should start construction in the next couple of months," says the Tata Sons chairman.

"We have significant commitments to expand our presence in the state of Gujarat. Sanand is becoming home for all our electric vehicles technology. We expanded the footprint in Sanand with additional capacity so that we can meet the growing demand for EVs," Chandrasekaran says.

India's largest electric carmaker, Tata Motors plans to operationalise the plant that it bought from Ford in Sanand this year. The new plant will add another 30,000 units to Tata Motors' current capacity of 55,000 units per month.

In addition to that, the Tata Group in partnership with the Union government and the Gujarat government will start a skill development institute, which will be spread over 3.2 lakh square feet.

"It will train more than 25,000 professionals every year primarily in advanced manufacturing of electric vehicles, and advanced electronics among other things. The first phase will be launched in March 2024," says Chandrasekaran.

"We see Gujarat as a very important destination not only for business growth but also for the future advanced technology industries that India is looking to grow at," he adds.

About 13% of all cars sold by Tata Motors in India are electric vehicles. The carmaker is eyeing 50% of its portfolio to comprise electric vehicles by 2030.

Tata Motors is working closely with the Tata Group's lithium-ion cell manufacturing subsidiary Agratas Energy to further drive domestic value addition in the electric vehicle business, Shailesh Chandra, managing director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, told Fortune India last year. "We have a certain plan which Agratas will announce. We work very closely with them as anchor customers," Chandra said. "Battery is the biggest cost in an electric vehicle and we as a group are investing in this."

In 2023, Micron Technology announced plans to build a new assembly and test semiconductor facility in Gujarat with an investment of up to $825 million. "Memory is a key enabler of AI and Micron is a leading powerhouse in memory. I'm proud that in June we announced plans to build a world-class memory assembly and test facility right here in Gujarat, the first of its kind in India," Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.