Gujarat holding talks with Japan, US firms as PM Modi eyes chipmaking hub

India’s Gujarat state is in talks with chipmakers in Japan, South Korea and the United States for investments in the state, its top minister said on Thursday, in pursuit of India’s ambitions of becoming a chipmaker for the world.

Semiconductor manufacturing is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key business agendas but initial bids to offer $10 billion in incentives to the chipmaking industry have floundered, with some proposals stalled or cancelled.

Gujarat, which is Modi’s home state and one of India’s major industrial hubs, has recently held investment talks with some chipmakers, and officials have visited Japan to meet some executives from the chips industry there, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel told Reuters in an interview.