This month, Foxconn pulled out of its joint venture with Vedanta. The two sides “mutually agreed to part ways,” Foxconn said in a statement at the time.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Foxconn is best known as the main assembler of Apple’s iPhones. But in last couple of years, the Taiwanese firm has made a push into semiconductors, betting that the rise of technologies like artificial intelligence will boost demand for these chips.
But Foxconn’s semiconductor foray has had a tough start, highlighting the difficulty for new players to enter a market dominated by established firms with huge experience and a highly intricate supply chain.
“The industry presents newcomers with high barriers to entry, mainly high levels of capital intensity and access to coveted intellectual property,” Gabriel Perez, ICT analyst at BMI, a unit at Fitch Group, told CNBC via email.
“Established players such as TSMC, Samsung or Micron count with several decades of R&D (research and development), process engineering and trillions of dollars in investment to reach their current capabilities.”
Why is Foxconn getting into semiconductors?
Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai Technology Group, is a contract electronics manufacturer that assembles consumer products like iPhones. But in the last two years, it has stepped up its presence in semiconductors.
In May 2021, it formed a joint venture with Yageo Corporation, which makes various types of electronic components. That same year, Foxconn bought a chip plant from Taiwanese chipmaker Macronix.
The biggest ramp-up in effort came last year when Foxconn agreed with Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta to set up a semiconductor and display production plant in India as part of a $19.5 billion joint venture.
Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro
Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, said Foxconn’s push into semiconductors is about diversifying its business, and the company’s decision to launch an electric car unit is part of that plan. Its aim is to become a “one stop shop” for electronics and automotive companies, Shah said.
If Foxconn could assemble electronics and manufacture chips, it would be a very unique and competitive business.
Why India?
Foxconn looked to India for its joint venture with Vedanta because the country’s government is looking to boost its domestic semiconductor industry and bring manufacturing on shore.
“Foxconn’s decision to establish a JV in India responds to two key trends – one of them being the market’s growing role as a consumer electronics manufacturing hub, the second one being India’s ambitions – mirroring other major markets such as the US, the EU and Mainland China – to develop its domestic semiconductor industry through public subsidies and regulatory incentives,” BMI’s Perez said.
What went wrong for Foxconn?
This month, Foxconn pulled out of its joint venture with Vedanta. The two sides “mutually agreed to part ways,” Foxconn said in a statement at the time.
“There was recognition from both sides that the project was not moving fast enough, there were challenging gaps we were not able to smoothly overcome, as well as external issues unrelated to the project,” Foxconn said.
Deadlocked talks with European chipmaker STMicroelectronics, which was the technology partner for the project, was one major reason for the venture’s failure, Reuters reported this month.
Foxconn and Vedanta wanted to license the technology from STMicro and India wanted the firm to have a stake in the joint venture, but the European chipmaker did not, Reuters reported.
It’s hard to break into chipmaking
Foxconn’s hurdles point to a broader issue — it’s hard for newcomers to get into semiconductor manufacturing.
The manufacturing of chips is dominated by one player — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC — which has a 59% market share in the foundry segment, according to Counterpoint Research.
TSMC doesn’t design its own chips. Instead, it makes these components for other companies like Apple. TSMC has had more than two decades of experience and billions of dollars of investment to get to where it is.
TSMC also relies on a complex supply chain of companies that make critical tools to allow it to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world.
Foxconn and Vedanta’s effort appeared to rely heavily on STMicro, but once the European company bailed, the joint venture was without much expertise in semiconductors.
“Both companies … lacked the core competency of manufacturing a chip,” Counterpoint Research’s Shah said, adding that they were dependent on third-party technology and intellectual property.
Foxconn’s attempts to crack the semiconductor space highlight how difficult it is for a new entrant to do so — even for a $47.9 billion giant.
“The semiconductor market is highly concentrated with few players which have taken more than two decades to evolve to this point,” Shah said, adding that there are high barriers to entry, such as large amounts of investment and specialized labor.
“On an average, it takes more than two decades to be at the level of skill and scale to be a successful semiconductor manufacturing (fab) company.”
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Friday’s key moments. 1. The S & P 500 turned higher Friday. The index opened lower after posting its worst one-day performance since Oct. 10. Still, Wall Street remains cautious of Big Tech’s heavy spending and stretched valuations. Jim Cramer reminded investors to stick with profitable companies — like Nvidia and Microsoft , both Club names, and Alphabet — rather than those that make promises they can’t back. While our trusted S & P Short Range Oscillator is not yet oversold, we’re eyeing some select buying opportunities among stocks that have pulled back. We’re preparing to free up more cash as we look to move on from Disney , where linear television networks have been weighing on profits. Jim said Disney is “in denial” about their challenges. 2. Shares of drugmaker Bristol Myers fell more than 3.5% on Friday after a phase 3 trial for one of its experimental drugs was halted due to a patient health issue. The drug in question was not Cobenfy — the schizophrenia treatment we’ve been bullish on for its potential use on Alzheimer’s. A big Cobenfy readout is due by the end of the year. It’s a make-or-break update for us as investors, given management’s consistent issues with execution. “It’s hard to have faith in management after a series of miscues,” said portfolio director Jeff Marks. We’ve been selling the stock, and as Jim said during Thursday’s November Monthly Meeting , if the shares resume their recent rise, we would look to trim further. 3. Looking ahead to next week, there are four Club names reporting earnings, starting with Home Depot on Tuesday before the opening bell. The near-term setup makes it challenging to maintain a positive stance due to the current elevated state of mortgage rates. At the same time, there’s a significant amount of pent-up demand in the housing sector, which should be beneficial for the home improvement retailer. Next up is TJX on Wednesday before the opening bell. The off-price retailer is a big under-promise, over-deliver story, as it tends to beat the high end of guidance. Nvidia also reports on Wednesday, but after the closing bell. There are a lot of bears on the stock right now, but Jim maintains his “own it, don’t trade it” stance. Finally, cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks reports on Wednesday, after the bell, and we’re interested in hearing how management plans to beef up its agent-based security. 4. Stocks covered in Friday’s rapid fire at the end of the video were: Applied Materials , Walmart , Gap , and Nucor . (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long DIS, BMY, HD, TJX, NVDA, PANW. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
An exterior view of the new JPMorgan Chase global headquarters building at 270 Park Avenue on Nov. 13, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts, CNBC has learned.
The bank has signed updated contracts with fintech middlemen that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.
“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”
The milestone is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between traditional banks and the fintech industry over access to customer accounts. For years, middlemen like Plaid paid nothing to tap bank systems when a customer wanted to use a fintech app like Robinhood to draw funds or check balances.
That dynamic appeared to be enshrined in law in late 2024 when the Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized what is known as the “open-banking rule” requiring banks to share customer data with other financial firms at no cost.
But banks sued to prevent the CFPB rule from taking hold and seemed to gain the upper hand in May after the Trump administration asked a federal court to vacate the rule.
Soon after, JPMorgan — the largest U.S. bank by assets, deposits and branches — reportedly told the middlemen that it would start charging what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars for access to its customer data.
In response, fintech, crypto and venture capital executives argued that the bank was engaging in “anti-competitive, rent-seeking behavior” that would hurt innovation and consumers’ ability to use popular apps.
After weeks of negotiations between JPMorgan and the middlemen, the bank agreed to lower pricing than it originally proposed, while the fintech middlemen won concessions regarding the servicing of data requests, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
Fintech firms preferred the certainty of locking in data-sharing rates because it is unclear whether the current CFPB, which is in the process of revising the open-banking rule, will favor banks or fintechs, according to a venture capital investor who asked for anonymity to discuss his portfolio companies.
The bank and the fintech firms declined to disclose details about their contracts, including how much the middlemen agreed to pay and how long the deals were in force.
Wider impact
The deals mark a shift in the power dynamic between banks, middlemen and the fintech apps that are increasingly threatening incumbents. More banks are likely to begin charging fintechs for access to their systems, according to industry observers.
“JPMorgan tends to be a trendsetter. They’re sort of the leader of the pack, so it’s fair to expect that the rest of the major banks will follow,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.
Shearer, who worked at the CFPB under former director Rohit Chopra, said he was worried that the development would create a barrier of entry to nascent startups and ultimately result in higher costs for consumers.
Source: Robinhood
Proponents of the 2024 CFPB rule said it gave consumers control over their financial data and encouraged competition and innovation. Banks including JPMorgan said it exposed them to fraud and unfairly saddled them with the rising costs of maintaining systems increasingly tapped by the middlemen and their clients.
When Plaid’s deal with JPMorgan was announced in September, the companies issued a dual press release emphasizing the continuity it provided for customers.
But the industry group that Plaid is a part of has harshly criticized the development, signaling that while JPMorgan has won a decisive battle, the ongoing skirmish may yet play out in courts and in the public.
“Introducing prohibitive tolls is anti-competitive, anti-innovation, and flies in the face of the plain reading of the law,” said Penny Lee, CEO of the Financial Technology Association, told CNBC in response to the JPMorgan milestone.
“These agreements are not the free market at work, but rather big banks using their market position to capitalize on regulatory uncertainty,” Lee said. “We urge the Trump Administration to uphold the law by maintaining the existing prohibition on data access fees.”
Govini has fired Eric Gillespie from its board of directors after the founder was charged with attempting to solicit sexual contact with a minor online.
“The actions of one depraved individual should not in any way diminish the hard work of the broader team and their commitment to the security of the United States of America,” the defense software startup said in a release late Wednesday.
The company said the 57-year-old had no access to classified information since stepping down as CEO nearly ten years ago.
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Gillespie with four felonies, including multiple counts of unlawful contact with a preteen.
A judge denied bail for Gillespie, who lived in Pittsburgh, citing flight risk and public safety concerns.
At the time, the Pentagon officials told CNBC that they were investigating the arrest and possible security risks.
Read more CNBC tech news
Last month, the Arlington, Virginia-based startup surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and announced a $150 million growth investment from Bain Capital.
