The Tata Group is on the verge of concluding and announcing a "huge semiconductor roadmap" in Dholera, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairperson of Tata Group, said at the 10th Global Summit of Vibrant Gujarat. This development comes after the Group has already committed billions of dollars to electric vehicle manufacturing, including lithium-ion batteries manufacturing in India.

In his address to the gathering at the event, which saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in attendance, Chandrasekaran said, “The Tata Group has also made a commitment and it is on the verge of concluding and announcing a huge semiconductor roadmap in Dholera. We are about to complete these negotiations and start in 2024.”

Lithium-ion battery factory's construction to start this year

Meanwhile, to support Tata Motors' ambitious electric vehicle plans, the group's 20GW lithium-ion battery manufacturing factory will start construction in March. In 2023, Tata Group committed Rs 13,000 crore investment and its subsidiary Agratas Energy Storage Solutions Pvt Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gujarat government under the new Electronics Policy (2022-'28) in this regard.

“We have expanded the footprint with additional capacity so that we can meet the growing demand for electric vehicles. We are about to launch the building of a huge gigafactory for 20GW of lithium-ion batteries in Sanand. The project should start construction in the next couple of months,” he added.

By setting up a battery manufacturing facility, Tata Group aims to support the country's transition towards electric mobility and renewable energy. The battery plant is expected to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for over 13,000 individuals.

Tata Motors' EV arm – Tata Passenger Electric Mobility – last year completed the acquisition of Ford India's Sanand plant. The facility can produce 3,00,000 vehicles annually, which can be scaled to 4,20,000 units over time – thereby creating ample capacity to cater to future electrification needs.

Shahkar Abidi (With inputs from Ketan Thakkar and Amit Vijay M)