Foxconn May Break With State Contracts On Factory Type: Report

RACINE COUNTY, WI — Foxconn Technology Group said that it is still planning to create 13,000 jobs in Southeastern Wisconsin and continue with its $10 billion investment in Racine County.

What Foxconn isn't saying, however, is whether they're still planning on building the liquid crystal display panel plant that's written into state contracts - including the ones that set up the company's $4 billion incentive program with the state.

That report came in Thursday's Journal Sentinel, as news came out earlier this year that the company might be eyeing changes to its original plan.

Foxconn said they are "still planning for an advanced fab facility in the near future after the completion of the first phase. Whether it is Gen 10.5 or something else depends on the market and economic situations at the time, according to the Journal Sentinel.”

The size and scope of Foxconn's $10 billion plant in Racine County is staggering: The roughly 20-million-square-foot plant will be located just north of County Line Road and just east of I-94 in Mount Pleasant in southern Racine County, according to local officials. That expanse is bordered by Braun Road to the north and Highway H to the east.

During Foxconn's initial announcement, they said new campus would consist of a multi-billion thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) plant, a facility to back-end package liquid crystal display modules, a skill-intensive facility focused on molding and tool-and-die processes and an end-set assembly operation to produce end-device units.

According a report published by the Nikkei Asian Review in May, they said Foxconn is changing their initial plan to produce large panel displays in favor of making smaller displays for cars, personal computers, tablets, mobile devices, televisions and niche products.

Foxconn issued a public statement in response to that Nikkei's report, reaffirming their investment in Wisconsin. "We are aware of the report published by Nikkei Asian Review regarding our investment in Wisconsin. That report is inaccurate and is not based on any facts. "

A Milwaukee Business Journal Report in June added more fuel to the fire: "Instead, the company first will build a "Generation 6" factory — Gen 6 in industry shorthand. Such plants are much smaller and much less costly than Gen 10.5 factories, use different machinery and turn out different arrays of products, industry watchers say."

In a Racine Journal Times report on Wednesday, Foxconn Technology Group executive Louis Woo told the paper's editorial board that the projected 13,000 new jobs the company pitched to state and local officials is still valid, however that they may go in a different direction with the type of factory they may build.

“We are not really interested in (building) television,” Woo said during the meeting. “We are interested in vertical solutions.” Those solutions could be in numerous areas, including medical, manufacturing, office automation or learning.

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