Ground broken on Foxconn's first US factory, rumored to supply iPhone screens for Apple

Foxconn chairman Terry Gou was joined by U.S. President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and others on Thursday as the company broke ground at a future factory in Mount Pleasant, Wis., which could potentially be turned to helping Apple.

Trump used the occasion to promote his goal of bringing jobs to the U.S., saying the factory will provide jobs for "up to 15,000 Wisconsin Workers," although reports have indicated the number will be 13,000. Foxconn is headquartered in Taiwan but operates most of its manufacturing in mainland China, Apple being a critical client thanks to products like iPhones and Macs.

Today, we broke ground on a plant that will provide jobs for up to 15,000 Wisconsin Workers! As Foxconn has discovered, there is no better place to build, hire and grow than right here in the United States! pic.twitter.com/tOFFodZYvK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018

The $10 billion factory is currently slated to produce LCD panels for TVs, but has been rumored as turning to iPhone and Mac panels in an attempt to cut costs. At the same time, any panels produced in the U.S. would have to be shipped overseas for final product assembly, which might negate any cost benefits.

Apple has some U.S. suppliers, but has had little assembly done in the U.S. for many years. The most recent product to be built in the country was the 2013 edition of the Mac Pro, now largely considered outdated.

To help Apple with iPhones, the factory would also have to expand into OLED. Two OLED-based models are expected to ship later this year, sized at 5.8 and 6.5 inches. A 6.1-inch LCD product is also predicted, and may even become the most popular, but Apple will likely transition to OLED iPhones completely within the next couple of years.

Local governments have reportedly been offering substantial amounts of taxpayer money to attract the factory, including $2.85 billion in income tax credits, $150 million in sales tax exemptions, and $764 million in incentives from Mount Pleasant and Racine County. The state of Wisconsin has pledged $134 million to improve nearby roads.

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23 Comments

Mike Wuerthele 6901 comments · 8 Years

About 6 years ago

As with the other article about the growing costs to Wisconsin because of this deal, we're going to start with this thread open for discussion. As a reminder, we didn't make this article partisan, and neither will you. This is not the place for your political manifesto.

If you think your words are going to start an argument, then don't bother posting them.

anantksundaram 20390 comments · 18 Years

I have no trouble at all with — in fact, I applaud — bringing manufacturing back to the US. But the deal involved at least $4B in subsidies.

40% (give or take) of the cost of investment in subsidies — is that really a good deal? Makes sports stadiums look cheap.

russw 21 comments · 10 Years

The politicians in Wisconsin have taken a big leap of faith that 13-15K jobs will be created by the plant (and many more in surrounding areas, of course). At this point, it seems they don't even know what sorts of jobs will be created or how many (13K or 15K). Will they require skill and pay higher wages or will they be jobs that don't' even require a high school diploma? Funny they can't even commit to what sort of product will be produced.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2018/05/04/foxconn-need-thousands-workers-entry-level-skills/578022002/

Is this all worth $4B? Only time will tell but the community is investing in the future of their workforce so good on them. Hope it works out.

wizard69 13358 comments · 21 Years

Interesting article but i really dont understand how people can believe a plant this size would be making iPhone screens. Especially LCD screens which are technology wise out mided for cell phone usage. So im thinking two things here. One is that the original stated intent is what the factory will focus on that being large screens for TVs and such. The other possibility is that they are working with Apple on a Micro LED screen. To put it another way there seems to be a developing over capacity with respect to small LCD screens. So it looks like the idea of LCDs being produced here for Apple is a bit of wishful thinking.

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

anantksundaram said:

I have no trouble at all with — in fact, I applaud — bringing manufacturing back to the US. But the deal involved at least $4B in subsidies.

40% (give or take) of the cost of investment in subsidies — is that really a good deal? Makes sports stadiums look cheap.

Exactly. The EU is complaining about Apple skirting taxes, this "deal" is a huge giveaway and appears to be costing the citizens of Wisconsin a ton of money. As far as Apple actually using it, that really doesn't matter as long as it's able to manufacture something used within the US. Of course it also appears no US agency is complaining about giving a foreign company all this money (bribes) to locate here.

As with any corporate deal, there's always something political and I have to wonder who will be making money on this deal and who will be losing. I have a difficult time seeing LCD TV sets making a ton of money with the way they almost immediately drop in cost.

If Foxconn would produce a might quality (4K, HDR, etc.) TV monitor without any garbage Android system inside, I'd buy it, but I think that ship has sailed. If Apple wants to produce computer monitors as well as their oft-mentioned full Apple Television at this facility, great. Just make sure the Apple TV simply has HDMI ports without any speakers since that's what the HomePod can end up being (kidding) and I think there would be a market.