Foxconn scaling back manufacturing plans in Wisconsin: report

Electronics manufacturer Foxconn is scaling back its plans to produce LCD panels in Wisconsin, a company executive told Reuters.

“In Wisconsin we’re not building a factory. You can’t use a factory to view our Wisconsin investment,” said Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou.

{mosads}The planned manufacturing plant had been touted by President Trump, who made an announcement about the project at the White House in 2017 and delivered remarks at a groundbreaking ceremony for the plant last year.

Foxconn originally planned to produce LCD television screens, but Woo told Reuters that those plans could be scaled back or canceled altogether. He pointed to the high costs of making television screens in the U.S., according to Reuters.

“In terms of TV, we have no place in the U.S.,” he said. “We can’t compete.” 

He told Reuters that it would be more profitable for the company to manufacture the screens in China and Japan. 

Woo added that Foxconn intends to launch a “technology hub” rather than a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin. The hub would include research facilities as well as packaging and assembly operations, Woo told Reuters.

A source also told Reuters that the Foxconn project is likely to create only 1,000 jobs in Wisconsin by 2020, after the company originally said the plant would hire 5,200 people by that point.

Foxconn initially said the project would create a total of 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin, but it’s unclear when all of those workers will be hired, according to Reuters.