$10 Billion Wisconsin Foxconn Deal Comes With Criticism

WISCONSIN — Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn announced plans to build four assembly plants in Wisconsin, three as early as next year, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Three assembly plants are precursors to a main plant, which will produce high-tech liquid crystal display screens. The main plant, which is expected to take four years to build, would be the first LCD manufacturing plant in the United States.

The three plants' purposes, respectively, will be for "back-end package liquid crystal display modules," "molding and tool and die processes involved in the production of high-precision housing and frames for display modules," and "final assembly."

Gov. Scott Walker has said Foxconn would invest $10 billion by 2020 to create a 1,000-acre campus in southeastern Wisconsin and up to 13,000 jobs., the Journal reported.

The $10 billion deal comes with criticism. WTMJ reported a government analysis as saying the Wisconsin Foxconn deal may not break even until 2042 and will provide 4,000 fewer jobs than original projections say.

Wisconsin is offering $3 billion worth of incentives to Foxconn, which PolitiFact reported as the most any U.S. state has ever given to a foreign company. The incentives include tax subsidies and environmental exemption permits.

Also, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou has expressed desire to more fully-automate Foxconn factories because the work is labor intensive. The Verge reported that Foxconn aims to have 30 percent full automation in Chinese factories by 2020.

Reuters reported that a 2013 Foxconn deal with Pennsylvania claimed it would create 500 jobs, but the project was never finished.

In fact, the agreement between Foxconn and Wisconsin includes no minimum for hiring workers or capital investment, PolitiFact reported.

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