Foxconn Claims It Will Add 700 Jobs in Wisconsin

The Foxconn campus in Mount Pleasant, Wis., on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Angela Major/WPR

Foxconn plans to renovate its facility in Mount Pleasant to add 700 jobs by mid-2027, according to documents filed with the local plan commission.

On Wednesday, the Mount Pleasant Plan Commission unanimously recommended the Village Board approve the proposal. The plan still needs a vote from the village board, but it’s part of a larger effort by the company to increase manufacturing capacity in Mount Pleasant.

Foxconn has said it makes servers for artificial intelligence and has more than 1,000 employees in Racine County. The company declined to comment on the planned renovation.

In addition to building manufacturing capacity in Wisconsin, Foxconn is also looking to expand in Texas, Ohio, California, Taiwan and Mexico.

In a call with investors in August, Foxconn rotating CEO Michael Chiang said those plans were in response to growth in artificial intelligence, or AI.

“We are seeing extremely strong customer demand for AI,” he told investors and analysts. “We expect Foxconn’s capital expenditure to continue increasing.”

In Racine County, the company wants to add 26 loading docks to its building on Braun Road. Milwaukee-based architecture firm EUA filed the application on behalf of the company.

In a letter to the city, Chris Johns, senior project manager for EUA, said the plan was part of an effort by Foxconn to grow its operations in Mount Pleasant, where it expects to add about 700 jobs near the end of the second quarter of 2027.

During the meeting, Johns said the jobs number was an estimate, but said those roles would be “new employees for production inside the facility.” He said the project was part of a larger goal from Foxconn.

“The facility is going to be fully utilized as it’s going forward, and this is one of the first of a few steps that are going to be made to improve the building to accommodate that,” he said.

Last year, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and Foxconn announced that the company planned to spend $569 million to expand its manufacturing operations and grow its total workforce in Racine County to more than 2,600 employees by the end of 2029.

The state reworked its contract with Foxconn to support the planned expanded manufacturing operations, offering $16 million in tax credits to support the expansion. That would bring Foxconn’s total state subsidy up to $96 million.

Even if those new jobs come to fruition, they will still be a fraction of the 13,000 jobs the company promised when it came to Wisconsin nearly a decade ago. Foxconn’s contract with the state was scaled back in 2021 from a $4 billion deal to an $80 million contract after it became clear the company’s initial plans wouldn’t materialize.

While the state offered additional support for the company’s expansion, the village didn’t expect to offer tax increment financing to support the renovations, according to Samuel Schultz, community development director for the Village of Mount Pleasant.

“This should not affect any of the existing tax incremental financing agreements that we have with Foxconn or that relate to the site,” he said. “(It’s) pretty standard. An industrial building is making improvements to its industrial operations from a zoning and planning point of view.”

Foxconn says it plans to add 700 jobs in Mount Pleasant by mid-2027 was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.