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Foxconn negotiates radically reduced Wisconsin plant deal

Breaking ground on the Foxconn Wisconsin plant in 2018

Apple iPhone assembler Foxconn has signed a new deal with the state of Wisconsin in which it will pay less than 10% of its original $10 billion commitment.

In 2018, Foxconn broke ground on a $10 billion factory in Wisconsin, which was due to create up to 13,000 jobs around making iPhone screens for Apple. It had yet to fulfil the commitment, reportedly leaving Wisconsin suffering, but has now renegotiated the deal.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn has signed a new contract in which it will invest up to $672 million, and create 1,454 jobs by the year 2025.

"I made a promise to work with Foxconn to cut a better deal for our state," Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. "The last deal didn't work for Wisconsin."

Reportedly, the new contract does include incentive payments covering "economic investment activities related to locating and operating a technology and manufacturing ecosystem."

Evers says that the deal will protect existing public investments, which includes the state having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in roads and infrastructure.

Foxconn has not commented. Having originally announced the plant would produce LCD iPhone screens, however, it has previously said that project had been slowed by many factors. Specifically "cultural assimilation, changing business demands, tariffs, a pandemic, and a presidential election year."

In late 2020, a Wisconsin state report concluded that the Foxconn plant was "more of a showcase than a business viable for the long term."

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