Adani pauses talks with Israeli firm for $10 bn India chip foray

Gautam Adani’s group has paused discussions with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor for a $10 billion chip project as it did not make strategic and commercial sense for the group, two people familiar with the matter said.

Maharashtra in September announced approval for Adani and Tower to set up a facility which would produce 80,000 wafers per month and create 5,000 jobs, helping PM Modi’s ambition of making India a chipmaking hub.

Adani Group had previously said the project was being evaluated, but the talks with Tower have been now been put on hold after Adani’s internal evaluation found there was still uncertainty about how much demand — especially in India — the business can generate, said the first source with direct knowledge of the matter.

“It was more of a strategic decision. Adani evaluated it and decided, let’s wait,” said the source, adding there is a possibility talks can resume at a later date.