Foxconn Expanding Into West-Central Wisconsin

EAU CLAIRE, WI — Technology giant Foxconn announced Monday its plans to expand into West Central Wisconsin. The company said in a press release that the expansion will create 150 high-tech jobs and expand its Wisconsin Valley Innovation Network.

Foxconn hopes for the historic office building and newly built test centers to be operational in early 2019, after closing on the properties later this year. They plan to name the new centers "Foxconn Place Chippewa Valley" and hope for the project to expand supply chains.

The move is intended to bring a "vibrant" artificial intelligence, 8K video and 5G network "ecosystem" into the U.S., with Wisconsin being at the center of it all. “Foxconn Place Chippewa Valley will play a key role in building a vibrant AI 8K+5G ecosystem in the U.S., with Wisconsin at the center of this vision," the release says.

Foxconn Place Chippewa Valley will include two properties: "The Grand," a six-story building at 204 E. Grand Ave. in downtown Eau Claire, and over 15,000 square feet of "co-working space" at 200 Eau Claire St. in Haymarket Landing.

See more:

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• Foxconn Scaling Back $10 Billion Plant Investment: Report
• Group Says Mt Pleasant Not Keeping Promise As Foxconn Land Bought

Alan Yeung, Foxconn’s Director of U.S. Strategic Initiatives, made the announcement at a news conference alongside Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary and CEO Mark R. Hogan, Momentum West Executive Director Steve Jahn, and Eau Claire City Manager Dale Peters.

“Once again, we’re seeing how Foxconn’s historic investment in Wisconsin is impacting every region of the state as the company makes yet another commitment to both create jobs and support entrepreneurs and innovators,” Walker said.

But Foxconn's presence in Wisconsin isn't well-received by all. Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio in April cited "$4 billion in controversial subsidies from Wisconsin taxpayers" as a result of Foxconn's presence in the state.

"The village of Mount Pleasant, where most of the Foxconn plant will be situated, has already spent millions of dollars to buy out farms and even small neighborhoods. While the village says it now controls 80 percent of what Foxconn needs, there remain holdouts," Quirmbach said.

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