By Dylan Deprey
Foxconn’s Chief Terry Gou, Photo Courtesy of The Business Journals
Wisconsin is known for its farming, dairy and brewing industries, and now it can add electronics to the mix. Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer, Foxconn has chosen Southeast Wisconsin as its $10 Billion factory, and estimated 13,000 jobs.
Foxconn head, Terry Gou and Governor Scott Walker signed a memorandum of understanding for the new manufacturing campus during a press conference at the Milwaukee Art Museum on July 27, 2017.
“This is something to say to the world we have arrived, the eagle has landed and we’re ready to take off again,” said Gov. Walker.
The memorandum of understanding outlined the terms of the incentives based on expected job creation and capital investment.
Governor Scott Walker
Walker said Foxconn would receive $3 Billion in tax cuts only if they fulfill the proposal to create 13,000 new jobs at an average salary of $53,875 and spend $10 billion in Wisconsin.
“it’s bigger than anything we’ve ever done before, but if you want to play in the big leagues its comparable with every other major incentive like this for a major project anywhere in this country and around the world,” Walker said.
A special session of the legislature will be called to pass an incentive package necessary for Foxconn to locate in Wisconsin over several other states.
Foxconn will construct a manufacturing campus comprised of multiple buildings totaling 20 million sq. feet to produce liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. These are used for a variety of industries including automotive, health care and entertainment.
This will be the first LCD factory in the U.S. Currently, there are only LCD panel glass fabrication plants in Japan, Taiwan, China and South Korea. According to a Wisconn Valley fact sheet, the project will be one of the largest greenfield investments by a foreign-based company in U.S. history as measured by jobs
Walker said Foxconn was bringing the future of manufacturing to the U.S., and Wisconsin would be a leader in technology. He added that the project would support 10,000 construction jobs over each of the next four years as well as 6,000 indirect jobs from the construction.
Hiring, permitting, planning and construction are set to begin immediately, and Foxconn plans to be operational in 2020.