FILE PHOTO: Vehicles pass through the security check at the entrance of Tata Electronics Plant in southern India, which makes Apple AAPL.O iPhone, component in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, India, September 28, 2024. REUTERS/Haripriya Suresh/File Photo
(Corrects headline and paragraph 1 to say that Intel is one of the major customers, not the first)
Dec 8 (Reuters) - India's Tata Electronics has secured Intel as a prospective customer for its upcoming chip facilities, potentially signalling the U.S. chipmaker's confidence in India's manufacturing ambitions.
The electronics-manufacturing arm of the 156-year-old salt-to-software Tata group is investing about $14 billion to build India's first semiconductor fabrication facility in Gujarat state and a chip assembly and testing facility in the state of Assam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for India to rival global semiconductor powerhouses such as Taiwan, aiming to make the country a chipmaker for the world despite initial setbacks.
Intel and Tata Electronics will also explore the opportunity to rapidly scale AI PC solutions for consumer and enterprise markets in India, which they say is projected to be a global top-five market by 2030.
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
