Renesas Electronics broadens tie-up with Tata group

India’s Tata Motors and Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp have formed a strategic partnership to design, develop and make semiconductor solutions, the firms said on June 29. The move comes as a persistent global shortage of semiconductor chips has hobbled the automotive and electronics industries, among others, forcing production cutbacks.

Renesas is a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions. Renesas will also collaborate with Tejas Networks, a Tata group company, for implementing next-generation wireless network solutions. This includes design and development of semiconductor solutions for radio units (RU) used in telecom networks, from 4G, 5G, to open radio access network (O-RAN), which enables open and flexible 5G RAN deployments, in addition to allowing wider interoperability.

The companies aim to roll out products and solutions initially for India and aim to expand its footprint in the global markets. Renesas Electronics Corporation had recently announced Next-generation EV Innovation Center (NEVIC) with Tata Elxsi.

“We see great potential in collaborating with Renesas in areas like automotive electronics and present and future telecom networks. The collaboration will accelerate our presence in these areas in India as well as globally,” said Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons.

Renesas and Tata Motors, India’s biggest maker of electric vehicles, will collaborate on developing next-generation automotive electronics to drive leadership performance and scalability for vehicles. Renesas and TML will explore a non-exclusive partnership on emerging technologies such as ADAS.

In addition, Renesas and Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), a company of Tata Group, will partner by establishing a Joint System Solution Development Center in Bangalore. The planned innovation center will focus on comprehensive system solutions for the IoT, Infrastructure, Industrial and Automotive segments by leveraging Renesas’ semiconductor solutions and TCS’ industry experience.India is among the countries racing to subsidise domestic construction of factories that turn out semiconductors and displays in an effort to minimise supply risks.

Its plan for $10 billion in incentives has lured applications from firms such as a joint venture between domestic conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwan’s Foxconn, and Singapore’s IGSS Ventures.

Oil-to-metals giant Vedanta plans to invest $20 billion for two units for chip and display manufacturing while jeweller Rajesh Exports will invest $3 billion in an electronic display plant. Livemint