Foxconn announces $10 billion LCD factory in Wisconsin

Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s top contract manufacturer that counts Apple and other major Silicon Valley giants as its clients, has officially confirmed it would invest $10 billion into a new 20-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Wisconsin to churn out high-resolution 8K LCD display panels used in smartphones, car dashboards and TVs.

Foxconn Chairman and founder Terry Gou said the facility would reduce the costs of shipping large-screen TVs from Asia, but stopped short of detailing how the displays would be assembled into TVs or other devices. Most TVs sold in the US are assembled in Mexico.

The plant will be located in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s district, which stretches from just south of Milwaukee to the Illinois border, though the exact location is still being determined.

It would be large enough to hold eleven Lambeau Fields, home of the Green Bay Packers.

Plans for the Wisconsin plant were announced at White House ceremony Wednesday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the development marks the first major US investment for Foxconn, which assembles iPhones and other gadgets for Apple.

The facility should create 3,000 new jobs initially and as many as 13,000 jobs at a later stage.

The state is providing Foxconn with a $3 billion, 15-year incentive package of tax credits, tied to job creation, capital expenditure and purchases of construction materials.

State officials said analysts with Ernst & Young estimate the plant will create 22,000 indirect jobs and another 10,000 construction jobs.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said the Foxconn facility could draw as many as 150 supporting suppliers to Southeastern Wisconsin and nearby states. The average salaries for the 13,000 jobs at the factory would be $53,000 annually, plus benefits, he added.

Foxconn said more US investments would follow.

Foxconn was previously rumored to have explored investments in seven US states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Wisconsin plant and the upcoming ones are separate from the three big manufacturing plants that President Donald Trump said Tuesday Tim Cook had committed to build in the US.

Foxconn employs hundreds of thousands of workers in its factories across China. The company last year reported about $140 billion in revenue.