Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers reportedly wants to renegotiate a massive investment plan in the US state with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), while the manufacturing giant yesterday said that it is open to further consultations on the proposal.
“While we continue our weekly engagement with the Evers administration, especially through the [Wisconsin] Department of Administration and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp [WEDC], we are open to further consultation, collaboration and new ideas,” Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said in a statement.
“Foxconn remains committed to our contract with the state of Wisconsin, as well as continuing to work with Governor Evers and his team in a forthcoming and transparent manner,” Hon Hai said.
The statement came after a report posted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday said that Evers wants to renegotiate the contract with Hon Hai, in which the Taiwanese firm has agreed to invest US$10 billion to build a sophisticated flat panel plant, which could create 13,000 jobs.
“Clearly, the deal that was struck is no longer in play and so we will be working with individuals at Foxconn and of course with [WEDC] to figure out how a new set of parameters should be negotiated,” Evers said in the report.
Evers said that it was too early to say what specific changes he would be looking for.
According to the report, the state and local governments, under an agreement signed in November 2017, are expected to provide Hon Hai up to US$4 billion in tax incentives and subsidies to establish a massive facility in the state’s Racine County.
The agreement was inked under the helm of former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who was defeated by Evers in midterm elections in November last year.
Evers was critical of the deal, the largest government incentive package in US history to a foreign company.
However, Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, on Thursday pushed back against the Democratic governor, saying that Evers was undermining the project and that any changes to the contract would be rejected by the WEDC.
Vos, whose legislative district includes the site of the Foxconn project, said in an interview on WISN radio that renegotiating the deal would only make it worse for the state.
“Why would we ever want that? Either fewer jobs or fewer investments. It is beyond my level of understanding to think that a governor of Wisconsin is basically rooting for the failure of the largest economic development in our state’s history,” Vos said.
Vos said that Foxconn officials have assured him that the company would eventually employ 13,000 people, even though experts have said it is more likely that only a few thousand would be hired.
Hon Hai said that the investment is aimed at helping Wisconsin create a state-of-the-art high-tech ecosystem that is expected to transform it into a global technology hub, not only at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park (WVSTP), but also through the company’s extensive investments that would go beyond the contract signed with the WEDC.
The investments include Hon Hai’s statewide network of Wisconn Valley Innovation Centers; a US$100 million research partnership with the University of Wisconsin; partnerships with students, staff and faculty in higher education via the US$1 million Smart Cities Smart Futures competition; and a US$100 million Wisconn Valley Venture Fund.
“Foxconn’s commitment to job creation in Wisconsin remains long-term and will span the length of the WEDC contract and beyond,” Hon Hai said.
“The first phase of construction on the WVSTP campus will begin after the winter break,” it added.
Hon Hai said that construction on the advanced sixth-generation flat-panel manufacturing facility would start this summer, and production is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of next year.
On Wednesday, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) announced his intention to enter the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) primary for next year’s presidential election.
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