Foxconn to invest US$569 million in Wisconsin operations

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) The Hon Hai Technology Group is planning to invest an additional US$569 million in Wisconsin to expand its operations in the U.S. state and deepen its work in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, the company said Wednesday.

The plan, approved by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), will anchor the company's growth in Racine County and is expected to create nearly 1,400 local jobs, Hon Hai, more widely known as Foxconn, said in a statement.

Jerry Hsiao (蕭才祐), general manager of Hon Hai USA and Hon Hai's chief product officer, said the company is scaling up in Wisconsin to meet customers' large-volume needs as demand for data-related infrastructure has continued to surge.

He said employees in Wisconsin already account for almost one-quarter of Hon Hai's U.S. workforce, a figure the company expects to double by 2030 as the project moves forward.

If Hon Hai meets its performance targets under the new WEDC plan, the state will provide up to US$16 million in related tax incentives, the company said.

This is Hon Hai's second incentive agreement with WEDC.

Under an amended contract signed in 2021, the company is eligible for up to US$80 million in tax credits by the end of 2025 if it invests US$672 million and creates at least 1,454 jobs, targets Hon Hai said it is on track to achieve.

The company has spent more than US$2 billion in Wisconsin in recent years on payroll, capital expenditures and taxes, and generated roughly 1,500 jobs related to server production, the statement said.

The contract signed in 2021 was an acknowledgement of the company's failure to meet its original goals articulated in 2017 when it first committed to building capacity in Wisconsin of US$10 billion in investment and the creation of 13,000 jobs.

Originally, the company said it would produce large-size flat panel displays for televisions and then smaller displays for other devices, but those plans were never realized.

When the 2021 agreement was signed, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said it would save Wisconsin taxpayers "US$2.77 billion compared to the previous contract ... and protect hundreds of millions of dollars in local and state infrastructure investments made in support of the project," according to a Reuters report at the time.