Chennai, Aug 30 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is on a 17-day trip to the US seeking investments, has signed several Memorandums of Understanding with major companies in San Francisco.
A statement from the Office of the Chief Minister said that CM Stalin 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. This centre as per the MoU will be set up at SIPCOT, Siruseri in Chengalpattu with an investment cost of Rs 450 crore. This project will generate 100 jobs.
CM Stalin 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 will provide 1,000 jobs.
Another MoU was signed with Yield Engineering Systems for the product development and manufacturing facility for semiconductor equipment to be set up at Sulur in Coimbatore. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 150 crore and will generate around 300 jobs.
The Chief Minister also signed an MoU with Microchip for an R&D centre in Semiconductor technology to be set up at Semmancherry in Chennai, which is expected to generate 1,500 jobs at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore.
The statement said that an agreement and MoU have also been signed with Applied Materials for an Advanced AI-enabled Technology Development Centre for Semiconductor manufacturing and equipment to be set up at Tharamani in Chennai which is expected to generate 500 jobs.
The CM also signed an agreement with Infinx for a Technology and Global Delivery Centre to be set up at ELCOT, Vadapalanji in Madurai district for Rs 50 crore and generating 700 jobs.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister also signed an MoU with Ohmium for a manufacturing facility of components for electro-user manufacturing and hydrogen solutions systems to be set up at Chengalpattu for Rs 400 crore. The project is expected to generate 500 jobs.
He has also entered into an agreement and signed an MoU with GeakMinds for an IT& Analytics Services Centre to be set up in Chennai to generate 500 jobs.
The Chief Minister is accompanied by his wife Durga Stalin, Tamil Nadu Industries Minister T. R. B.Raaja and a horde of senior officials.
The CM is visiting San Francisco and Chicago during his 17-day trip that commenced on August 27 and will continue till September 14 when he will return to Chennai.
The Chief Minister is travelling to the US eight months after the Tamil Nadu government signed MoUs worth over Rs 6 lakh crore during the third edition of the Global Investors Meet.
The statement said that CMM Stalin is also likely to visit prominent technology companies, underscoring Tamil Nadu’s focus on embracing cutting-edge technologies and fostering an ecosystem conducive to R&D and high-tech manufacturing.
It may be recalled that since assuming office in May 2021, CM Stalin has visited the UAE, Singapore, Japan and Spain to get investment proposals into Tamil Nadu.
The Chief Minister's office said that they would list out the proposals received during his US trip.
It may be noted that Tamil Nadu has already emerged as the locus of iPhone manufacturing in India with three key suppliers -- Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics -- expanding their operations. Additionally, Bharat FIH, an arm of Foxconn, will soon begin to assemble Pixel phones and drones for Google.
CM Stalin is likely to meet Sundar Pichai, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google as well as heads of several other Fortune companies.