After Donald Trump intervenes, Foxconn says it will build Wisconsin plant after all
- Earlier this week the company was reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a planned Wisconsin factory
- Company changes course again after Chairman Terry Gou speaks with Trump
Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer, said on Friday that it would build a factory in Wisconsin after the company’s chairman spoke to US President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Foxconn was reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a planned US$10 billion Wisconsin campus.
But after conversations between Trump and Foxconn chairman Terry Gou Tai-ming, the Taiwanese company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, said it would now move “forward with our planned construction of a Gen 6 fab facility”, which is a type of plant that produces displays.
The 20-million square foot campus marked the largest investment for a brand new location by a foreign-based company in US history when it was announced at a White House ceremony in 2017.
It was praised by Trump as proof of his ability to revive American manufacturing. The apparent reversal was seized upon by Democrats in Congress this week.
Trump tweeted on Friday: “Great news on Foxconn in Wisconsin after my conversation with Terry Gou!”
Louis Woo, special assistant to Gou, said on Wednesday that Foxconn wanted to create a “technology hub” in Wisconsin that would largely consist of research facilities. “In Wisconsin we’re not building a factory,” Woo said.
Foxconn said that global market conditions had “necessitated the adjustment of plans for all projects, including Wisconsin”.
The company’s statement on Friday reiterated that the “campus will serve both as an advanced manufacturing facility as well as a hub of high technology innovation for the region.”
Foxconn’s statement did not reiterate its commitment to create 13,000 jobs as it did on Wednesday.
