Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ administration and Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) on Thursday said that a massive project planned for the state was moving forward, disputing Republicans who blamed the new Democratic governor for a change in direction away from manufacturing to more research jobs.
Foxconn on Wednesday said that it was shifting the focus of the Wisconsin project away from making high-tech flat-panel screens for TVs and other products in favor of a research and development hub.
While the company insisted that it would still employ up to 13,000 people, they would primarily be scientists and developers, not blue-collar assembly line workers as originally promised.
Photo: AP
Foxconn — as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, is commonly referred to in the West — has not said whether it would invest US$10 billion in Wisconsin as originally promised.
Local Wisconsin government and economic development officials said that they were assured by Foxconn that figure remained the goal.
Over the past year, Foxconn has repeatedly revised what it plans to do in Wisconsin and the type of workers who will do it.
It cited a changing global market as requiring a move away from making LCD panels in Wisconsin.
Foxconn’s shift away from manufacturing LCD panels led Republican legislative leaders to lay blame on Evers, who had been critical of the project and its potential US$4 billion in taxpayer subsidies in his campaign against then-Wisconsin governor Scott Walker.
Evers has also proposed capping a manufacturing tax credit program that is not a part of the contract with Foxconn.
Still, Republicans said that Evers’ desire to all-but eliminate that credit was part of an “anti-jobs agenda.”
However, both Foxconn and Mark Hogan — CEO of Wisconsin Economic Development Corp (WEDC), the state’s economic development agency under Walker and Evers — on Thursday disputed the Republican claims.
Hogan also disputed a Nikkei Asian Review report, citing anonymous sources, which said that Evers was attempting to renegotiate side deals with the company.
“I have been involved with the Foxconn project from day one and there never have been any side deals and the contract stands on its own,” Hogan said in a statement. “In addition, there have been no attempts by either the company or the Evers or Walker administrations to renegotiate WEDC’s contract.”
Foxconn issued its own statement, saying: “All interactions to date with Governor Evers and his team have been constructive and we look forward to further discussions” about continuing the project.
Foxconn said that over the next 18 months it plans to build a packaging plant, a molding factory, an assembly facility, a prototyping center, a research and development center, a high-performance data center and a “town center” to support people working on the sprawling campus near Racine.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from