Wisconsin is working on a package of incentives to lure Taiwanese iPhone manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to the state as part of a deal that two state lawmakers on Thursday said they believe could come as soon as the end of the month.
Wisconsin is one of several Midwest states vying for Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), as it considers building a US$7 billion display panel manufacturing plant that could employ up to 10,000 people.
The company is expected to announce its decision by early next month.
Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told reporters on Thursday that “huge, big numbers” are being talked about to help land Hon Hai.
Wisconsin State Assembly member John Nygren and Senator Luther Olsen said the state could announce a deal by the end of this month.
Neither said they knew how much in total incentives the state might ultimately offer.
“I really don’t have a lot of information and any legislator up at the Capitol that tells you they do is not telling the truth,” Fitzgerald told WKOW-TV.
Fitzgerald said negotiations with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s office and state economic development officials have been “kept very close to the vest until they have something.”
Walker downplayed talk of an imminent deal.
“We don’t have a specific proposal on the table,” Walker told reporters. “Anything that’s being talked about right now is purely speculative.”
Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) has said the firm is considering Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Texas as manufacturing states with which the company hopes to work.
Michigan last week passed a series of incentives to lure Hon Hai, a move that Walker said on Thursday was “irrelevant to what we’re doing.”
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