Foxconn says it now employs more than 1,000 people in Wisconsin. What are they doing?
Foxconn says it now employs more than 1,000 people in Wisconsin. What are they doing?
For a second year, Foxconn Technology Group, has been awarded state tax credits for its development in Racine County. Company officials say they’ve been able to do this despite economic headwinds.
Further, in interviews with foreign media, they continue to make grandiose claims for Wisconsin.
But the company’s work continues to be something of a mystery.
Foxconn has gotten $37.4 million to date for meeting job and investment benchmarks outlined in a state contract revised by the Evers administration in April 2021.
“With hundreds of employees verified by economic development officials based on 2020 and 2021 reporting periods, the company now has over 1,000 employees working in Wisconsin,” according to a statement Tuesday from Foxconn Technology Group. “The company thanks Governor Tony Evers and his team for their partnership as we continue to invest in Wisconsin.”
Whether Evers or his team now view Foxconn as something of an economic success for the region is unclear. The governor could not be reached for comment.
Last week, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) announced Foxconn created 768 eligible jobs and made a capital investment of $77.4 million by the end of 2021. By doing so, the company was eligible for $8.6 million in tax credits.
In April 2021, the state revised its $2.85 billion contract with Foxconn to create more realistic goals, including the creation of 1,454 jobs — about 11% of the original plan — by Dec. 31, 2025.
Also under the revised agreement, Foxconn is expected to invest up to $672 million by the end of 2025, compared to the $10 billion in the original deal.
What are Foxconn employees doing?
What has been a mystery to many is what Foxconn’s Wisconsin employees are doing?
More:What is Foxconn making at its taxpayer-supported Mount Pleasant facility? An employee says workers are bored, encouraged to go home early
State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, who served on the WEDC board until last week, has been one of the few state legislators to vocally criticize the project.
“The question for everyone — state and local — is what does success look like in 2022?,” Hintz said. “Not losing anymore money? Having some ambiguous jobs?”
Last week, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, replaced Hintz on the WEDC board with Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison. Hintz did not seek re-election.
Hong said she plans to carry on the accountability championed by Hintz and she is grateful Evers renegotiated the Foxconn contract.
“As he’s stated in the past, from an economic standpoint, the Foxconn agreement never made sense,” Hong said. “It was an irresponsible, hasty political decision and five years later, Wisconsinites are still dealing with the impacts of Scott Walker’s broken promises.”
A step into the green industry?
When asked by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel what employees in Wisconsin are working on, spokespeople for Foxconn directed attention to a Dec. 7 article in DIGITTIMES Asia, a daily newspaper in China that focuses on the IT industry.
In the article, Fuming Fu, a USA chairman for Foxconn, said the company’s Mount Pleasant site “focuses on server and storage equipment production, while also becoming Foxconn’s first step into the green energy sector with its production of microinverters for solar power.”
The article went on to say: “Besides continuing to expand the production for servers and storage equipment, the site has also started to assist US solar power and battery system suppliers to produce microinverters, according to FII USA chairman Fuming Fu. This can be viewed as the Foxconn group’s first large-scale involvement in the green energy industry.” A microinverter is a type of solar technology that is installed on each individual solar panel.
The Wisconsin site, it said, could also be involved in “medical, government tenders, aerospace, the EV-related battery supply chain.”
Foxconn has four buildings in Mount Pleasant, which it describes as a nearly 1-million-square-foot “advanced manufacturing” facility; a 300,000-square-foot “smart manufacturing center;” a 120,000-square-foot “multipurpose building;” and a 100-foot tall “high-performance computing data center globe.”
According to the DIGITIMES article, three of the buildings are being used and more construction could be coming.
“With orders still on the rise, a capacity shortage will appear despite the current production lines running on a three-shift, 24-hour operation. Therefore, Fu stated that he hopes Foxconn can quickly construct new factory buildings on the site to satisfy the client’s demands.”
Kelly Gallaher, whose group, A Better Mount Pleasant, has been a vocal critic of Foxconn, said it remains the largest failed publicly funded economic development project in U.S. history.
“While the State was smart to right-size their contract with Foxconn, compensating them at a rate similar to what other companies receive, the damage has already been done,” Gallaher said. “Foxconn’s late summer hiring spree for public dollars will inevitably lead to new year layoffs. It’s become an annual event in Mount Pleasant.”
More:‘Grandiose expectations’ brought Foxconn to Wisconsin, participants in town hall discussion say
