CM Stalin meets Ford company officials, explores possibilities to renew tie up

Chennai, Sep 11 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M .K. Stalin, who is on an investment garnering trip to the United States since August 29, met the officials of Ford Motors in Chicago.

CM Stalin, in a statement on his social media platform X, said: "Had a very engaging discussion with the team from @Ford Motors! Explored the feasibility of renewing Ford's three-decade partnership with Tamil Nadu, to again make in Tamil Nadu for the world! "

Ford had invested nearly $2 billion in the Indian market for its design, production and marketing. However, it exited India in September 2021 as it faced stiff competition and its global sales dipped.

However, the Automobile industry is buzzing with stories that Ford has been looking forward to re-entry in India with EV vehicle production and production of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) in the CBU forms at the plant.

Earlier, CM Stalin signed several MoUs with many companies during his 17-day US trip.

The state government had signed a Rs 400 crore contract with Ohmium in San Francisco, which will generate 500 jobs, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.

The statement also said that CM Stalin visited the headquarters of Google, Apple and Microsoft and signed MoUs with these tech giants.

The Chief Minister signed an MoU with Nokia for a New Nokia R&D centre which will be their largest Fixed Network test bed in the world for innovation in 10G,25G,50G and 100G PON, it added.

The centre will be set up at SIPCOT, Siruseri, Chengalpattu with an investment cost of Rs 450 crore and will generate 100 jobs.

He also signed an MoU with the PayPal group for an Advanced Development Centre focussed on Artificial Intelligence which will be set up in Chennai and provide 1000 jobs.

Another MoU was signed with Yield Engineering Systems for a product development & manufacturing facility for semiconductor equipment to be set up at Sulur, Coimbatore. The project will cost Rs 150 crore and generate around 300 jobs.

CM Stalin also signed an MoU with Microchip for an R&D centre in Semiconductor technology to be set up at Semmancherry, Chennai which is expected to generate 1500 jobs and at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore.

The statement said that an agreement and MoU were also signed with Applied Materials for an Advanced AI-enabled Technology Development Centre for Semiconductor manufacturing &equipment to be set up at Tharamani, Chennai, which is expected to generate 500 jobs.

CM Stalin also signed an agreement with Infinx for a Technology and Global Delivery Centre at ELCOT, Vadapalanji, Madurai district for Rs 50 crore. The project was expected to generate 700 jobs.