Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海) state-of-the-art 6G flat panel production site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of next year, the company said on Monday in a statement in the US.
Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said construction of the facility in the Valley Science and Technology Park is scheduled to begin by this summer.
The announcement came after Hon Hai said in late January that it was rethinking the US$10 billion investment, saying that the project would be adjusted to focus mainly on research and development instead of manufacturing.
According to international media reports, the investment was revised in light of the steep cost of making advanced TV screens in the US, given the cost of labor there.
Monday’s statement indicated that the LCD plant would produce screens for a wide range of applications, including education, health and medical care, entertainment, sports, security and smart city development.
“Our commitment from day one has been to establish a winning formula for Foxconn and for Wisconsin,” Louis Woo (胡國輝), special assistant to Hon Hai founder and chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), said in the statement.
“We continue to expand our presence around the state, create jobs and deepen our partnerships, while innovating and adapting to meet changing market needs,” Woo said. “We’re investing in Wisconsin because we know manufacturing here is going to drive even greater success and growth for Foxconn and for the community.”
Hon Hai said it would take several key steps over the next few months for the Wisconsin project, including announcing the winners of two bid packages by April 1.
“‘Wisconsin First’ has been our commitment from the start and it has been evidenced in our construction hiring to date,” Woo said.
Hon Hai on Nov. 10, 2017, signed an agreement with Wisconsin Economic Development Corp to build a flat screen manufacturing campus in the state.
The investment was sold as creating up to 13,000 jobs over six years that would have an estimated average salary of US$53,875.
Gou and US President Donald Trump attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the Mount Pleasant site on June 28 last year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure