By the time Trump, Ryan, Walker, and Gou convened for the groundbreaking ceremony in Mount Pleasant on June 28th, 2018, Foxconn had already begun to waver. Days before, the company admitted that rather than building the Gen 10.5 Fab specified in its contract, it would instead build the smaller Gen 6, but still create 13,000 jobs.
Two months later Foxconn executive Louis Woo told the local press there was another change: rather than manufacturing jobs, 90 percent of the roles would be researchers and engineers, a number that would mean Foxconn was creating a research campus in Southeastern Wisconsin three times the size of MIT.
Foxconn announces $10 billion investment in Wisconsin and up to 13,000 jobs
Foxconn said it will announce what will be made at the Wisconsin facility by July
The New York Times reported that Foxconn's chairman and chief executive Young Liu said during a news briefing that the company is deciding between the Wisconsin facility or one of its plants in Mexico to make electric cars.
Wow. This iteration of 'Whither Wisconsin Valley' comes with more drama - like possible outsourced production and cross-border wage competition:
Liu said that the company will announce what it will make in Wisconsin before July. It could be electric cars, or something else, he said.
Might there be additional, perhaps Federal incentives in the mix? Does one level of subsidy deserve another?
A full, four-year Foxconn archive is here.
So stay tuned on your flat-panel TV, made elsewhere, as it's wait until July, Bucky - though we are reminded that July hasn't exactly been Foxconn's best month: