Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) is to partner with three major US midwestern companies to create a US$100 million fund to help launch technology start-ups around the world, the companies announced on Tuesday.
Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) in Taiwan, Advocate Aurora Health, Johnson Controls International PLC and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co are to each contribute US$25 million to create the Wisconn Valley Venture Fund.
The fund would be controlled by a manager based in Milwaukee, as well as a committee composed of representatives from each of the four companies.
Johnson Controls has a Milwaukee headquarters and produces a wide range of technological products for buildings, including thermostats, security systems and dampers.
Northwestern Mutual is a financial services company based in Milwaukee, while Advocate Aurora Health Care runs 27 hospitals throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.
Officials from the four companies said they expect the fund to produce excellent returns and lead to advances in robotics, artificial intelligence and healthcare.
“We look forward to enabling entrepreneurs and start-ups to find success for transformative solutions through the fund,” Foxconn CEO Terry Gou (郭台銘) said in a statement.
The companies announced the fund at Milwaukee’s Discovery World alongside Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
“This is yet another example of the Foxconn Bonus,” Walker said in a news release. “The fund represents a collaboration of four outstanding companies in Wisconsin that are committed to helping our state become a global technology hub.”
Foxconn is building a massive flat-screen production campus in Mount Pleasant called Wisconn Valley. It has promised to invest up to US$10 billion and employ as many as 13,000 people.
If the targets are met, Foxconn could receive more than US$4 billion in state and local incentives, the largest economic development package in US history for a foreign company.
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