At a time when India's demands for electric vehicles (EV) and semiconductors are rapidly growing, Tata Group is accelerating its investments to align with Narendra Modi's self-reliant India.
According to Bloomberg, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said at an event that Tata Group is planning to foray into semiconductor manufacturing and will soon announce its EV batteries manufacturing plan.
Tata Group announced an entry into semiconductor manufacturing in August 2021, and Reuters quoted sources saying in November 2021 that Tata Group might invest US$3 billion in the semiconductor packaging and testing business.
According to The Economic Times, Raja Manickam, CEO of Tata Electronics, the OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) arm of Tata Group, said that Tata Electronics is in talks with global semiconductor and OSAT companies to cooperate on advanced packaging such as heterogeneous integration, adding that Tata Electronics can build traditional packaging business itself.
Furthermore, Manickam said that Tata Electronics is evaluating locations to set up its OSAT facility, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha, adding that hopefully, the location can be determined as early as mid-May.
As for the EV business, Business Standard reported that Tata Technologies is interested in setting up an EV production base in Punjab.
Reuters reported that Tata AutoComp is sourcing EV batteries from China-based Gotion High Tech and working with Gotion to assemble the battery packs and on the battery management system. Arvind Goel, CEO of Tata AutoComp, said that around 50% of the EV components are currently manufactured in-house, and the plan is to localize everything.
Other subsidiaries under Tata Group are also stepping up their EV investments. Reuters reported that Tata Power is setting up charging stations, while Tata Chemicals plans to build battery recycling and EV cell manufacturing businesses.
Despite growing sales, Shailesh Chandra, managing director of Tata Motors Passenger, said that Tata's EV business faces challenges, such as lockdowns in China that lead to reduced visibility of semiconductors and a lack of containers that worsened the logistics, according to a Bloomberg report.
