Trump's Plan To Bring Tech Manufacturing To The US Plays Out As Foxconn Commits To $10B Wisconsin LCD Plant
Foxconn has announced that it is making a massive investment into a new U.S. manufacturing facility. The gigantic factory will cover 20,000 square feet and is said to be a virtual village with the factory, housing, and services arrayed around a 1,000 acre parcel of land. The investment in the facility by Foxconn will cost $10 billion and will be constructed somewhere in Wisconsin.
The construction of the facility is expected to be completed by 2020, and could employ as many as 13,000 workers. One source claims that when completed with other suppliers wanting to relocate closer to the new Foxconn factory, as many as 22,000 jobs could be created in the area.
The factory will build LCDs with the bulk of the production said to be slated for Sharp (Foxconn parent company Hon Hai also owns Sharp). Sources claim that the panels made at the factory would be for TVs, computers, and car dashboards. The announcement of the new Foxconn factory comes only a day after President Donald Trump announced that Apple had promised three new U.S. factories.
The Foxconn announcement doesn't have anything to do with Apple as far as we can tell (for now), so it's unclear if this is one of the three factories that Trump says Apple has promised, but we assume it's not.
To woo the Foxconn factory to Wisconsin, the state had to offer massive subsidies to the tune of $3 billion. Those subsidiaries are nearly 50 times larger than any the state has offered a manufacturer in the past. "America does not have a single LCD plant to produce a complicated system. We are going to change that," Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said.
President Trump issued a statement from the White House saying, "This is a great day for American workers and manufacturers and everyone who believes in the concept and the label 'Made in the USA.'"
Speaking of the land the facility would be placed on, one source says that the 1,000 acre parcel needed could be pieced together from parcels of land that aren't contiguous initially. With 20 million square feet under the roof, the facility will be one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the nation and the 3,000 initial workers at the facility are expected to make an average of $53,900 per year plus benefits.
That average salary is much, much higher than what Foxconn workers make in China and will have an impact on product prices according to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou. Gou said back in January, "In the future they [American consumers] may be paying some $500 more for [U.S.] products, but those do not necessarily work better than a $300 phone."
The exact site for the factory has yet to be chosen, but Foxconn is said to be considering areas in Wisconsin's Racine and Kenosha counties. At least once source says that Foxconn could choose multiple locations in the state.
