Foxconn downplays plans for a liquid crystal display plant in Wisconsin, saying it expects to invest a fraction of the $ 10 billion promised nearly four years ago, according to a new contract with the state.
The electronics manufacturer, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
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, on Tuesday negotiated a new economic development deal with the state of Wisconsin, which was a shadow of the record-breaking incentive package announced in the summer of 2017.
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract maker, now plans to invest up to $ 672 million and create 1,454 jobs by 2025 to get $ 80 million in incentives, according to the contract.
The company previously agreed to invest up to $ 10 billion and hire 13,000 people by 2032 to qualify for $ 2.855 million in incentives.
The Foxconn deal was originally set by former president and founder of the company, Terry Gou, and former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who lost his post in 2018 to Democrat Tony Evers. The deal was announced in the White House and announced then-President Trump as a pillar of the administration’s plan to boost U.S. industrial jobs.
On Tuesday, Gov. Evers said the new contract fulfilled its campaign commitment to save taxpayer money and protect public investment for the existing plant in southern Milwaukee, where officials have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in roads. and other infrastructure.
“I promised to work with Foxconn to reduce a better deal for our state,” he said. “The last deal didn’t work out for Wisconsin.”
Foxconn, a display provider for Apple Inc.,
he has previously said that rapidly changing LCD technology complicated plans in Wisconsin. In a recent report, Foxconn said the project was also hampered by “cultural assimilation, changing business demands, tariffs, a pandemic and a year of presidential elections.”
Foxconn media representatives did not respond to any requests for comment. But Foxconn officials have previously called for more flexibility on what types of investments could benefit from incentive payments, according to the governor, under the new contract.
The new contract allows the payment of incentive payments for “economic investment activities related to the location and exploitation of a technological and manufacturing ecosystem.” The old contract required Foxconn to build a specific type of screen manufacturing facility on Mount Pleasant, 25 miles south of Milwaukee.
Foxconn has been looking to expand beyond electronics since founder Mr. Gou stepped down in 2019. Sales of iPhones have slowed and the contract manufacturing business has suffered relatively low profit margins.
Last month, Foxconn president Young Liu said it might make sense to make electric cars at the Wisconsin site in light of the company’s recent deal with Los Angeles-based electric vehicle starter Fisker. Inc.
The cleaned and prepared site is larger than Central Park, with about 100 homes and small farms to give way to Foxconn. At the moment, the site houses some shell buildings and an almost complete glass and steel dome that can be seen from the nearby National Highway 94.
Write to Valerie Bauerlein to [email protected]
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It appeared in the April 21, 2021 print edition as “Foxconn Shrinks Plans in Wisconsin.”