Wisconsin Public Radio

Foxconn Delaying Mount Pleasant Plant?

WEDC says company moving back completion of promised plant to early 2021.

By , Wisconsin Public Radio - Jun 28th, 2019 10:09 am
On June 28, 2018, the first Wisconsin Foxconn employee C.P. "Tank" Murdoch, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, President Donald Trump, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan conducted the ceremonial groundbreaking at the Foxconn campus in Mount Pleasant. Photo from The White House.

On June 28, 2018, the first Wisconsin Foxconn employee C.P. “Tank” Murdoch, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, President Donald Trump, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan conducted the ceremonial groundbreaking at the Foxconn campus in Mount Pleasant. Photo from The White House.

Foxconn Technology Group appears to have delayed the opening of its manufacturing plant in Racine County.

In March, the tech manufacturing company announced construction on the Mount Pleasant Gen 6 fabrication facility would begin in summer and would be operational by the end of 2020.

But Thursday morning, an email sent out by WEDC with the subject line: “Special Bulletin: Wisconn Valley News” updating bid opportunities said the factory was now set for completion in early 2021.

The email also stated the company had begun pouring the concrete foundations for its “first major manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant,” which will be “the first LCD screen fabrication facility of its type in North America. It will have nearly 1 million square feet of building space.”

A spokeswoman for Foxconn said Thursday afternoon that there is no delay but offered few additional details. The company released the following official statement:

“Today marks another milestone for Foxconn in Wisconsin,” said Dr. Louis Woo, Special Assistant to Foxconn Founder Terry Gou. “The installation of foundations and footings comes after months of careful planning and preparation, which demonstrates Foxconn’s concrete commitment to advanced manufacturing in Wisconsin. We are incredibly proud of the significant progress that Foxconn has made in Wisconsin in just one year, and we look forward to continued progress towards Q4 2020.”

Foxconn’s plans have changed several times since announcing its intent to build flat screens in Wisconsin in 2017 with a so-called Gen 10 plant. Foxconn said market changes prompted the company to shift to a smaller Gen 6 facility. The future of Foxconn continues to be questioned by some, particularly after the company briefly changed course earlier this year.

Long-time analyst Alberto Moel who formerly covered the Asian flat-screen industry for research firm Bernstein said this week in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio that Foxconn had been riding technology waves for many years but has hit a plateau.

“If you look at the example of flat panel TVs, it went from nothing because they didn’t exist to everybody having one and there’s no room for growth in flat panel TVs,” Moel said. “And that’s what is happening now with smart phones.”

In early June, construction documents for Foxconn’s LCD fabrication facility were released by the state Department of Safety and Professional Standards. The drawings show an 888,549-square-foot, one-story building.

This building is about 100,000 square feet smaller than shown in documents released in May.

So far, only a single building on the campus has been completed — a 120,000-square-foot multi-purpose facility that opened in late 2018.

Even after the second facility is finished, the campus will be a long way from resembling the “11 Lambeau fields” former Gov. Scott Walker promised when he was promoting Foxconn and the state’s $3 billion tax incentive for the company.

Moel said he believes eventually, Foxconn will build what it has promised, but it will likely take decades.

“Depending on the way the winds blow, they may accelerate, I don’t think they know,” Moel said. “(Foxconn) is the kind of company that starts driving and then decides where it is going.”

Foxconn Appears To Push Back Opening Of Mount Pleasant Plant was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

One thought on “Foxconn Delaying Mount Pleasant Plant?”

  1. funmake says:

    Scammed big time I hope President can come up with a exit strategy. Did Wisconsin get something I worked on in 1990 while living in Aberdeen, SD. Japan Steel Works had sent a cell phone to a venture capital company in Plymouth, MN. a friend who had been around Indian gaming said” we need one million dollars to have these made in the U.S.” JPW would furnish all parts for the cell phones and they would marry their hardware with a Motorola chip. One the million was secured and building set up and manufacturing started turning JSW would place a order for thousands of the completed cell phones. I used that cell phone in Aberdeen before there were towers. Norwest Bank rep Richard Kordner wanted to laugh me out of his office, I would see him after he retired and say “Richard coulda, woulda, shouda!” What I’m saying and many see this is that Japan Steel Works was insuring the investment and project, what has Foxes given up!

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