The chairman of Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn said the electronics giant is considering making electric vehicles at its nearly empty construction site in Wisconsin, where the company originally planned to make LCD panels. Either that, or Foxconn can do EVs in Mexico. The decision will be made by July 1, President Young Liu said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Best known for making iPhones, Foxconn recently shifted some of its attention to the growing space for electric vehicles as a way to diversify its revenue. At the end of last year, the conglomerate announced an EV platform on which other companies could build. This year, Foxconn announced partnerships with China’s largest private automaker, Geely, and a number of EV startups. She agreed to build an electric vehicle with Fisker Inc., which is battling startup Byton, and may even build one with Faraday Future (as part of the Geely deal), which is now full of money after years in the business. limit.
Foxconn also announced an EV partnership with Fiat Chrysler in 2020, although neither company has commented on the project since then. (The Fiat Chrysler is now called Stellantis.)
Fisker Inc. founder Henrik Fisker said earlier that there was a “very good chance” to build a vehicle with Foxconn in Wisconsin, although Tuesday’s president’s comments are the first time the Taiwanese company has confirmed its interest in using the installation. Liu also said Foxconn is considering building EVs for several partners, but dismissed rumors that it would work with Apple, which is developing an autonomous electric car.
Foxconn opened the plant in Wisconsin in 2018, after raising about $ 4 billion in tax credits and other incentives from state and local governments. The company promised to invest $ 10 billion, build a 20 million square foot facility and create 13,000 jobs, all to make LCD panels. Former President Donald Trump once called the site “the eighth wonder of the world”. The company said it wanted to build Silicon Valley in the Midwest, calling it “Wisconn Valley”.
But it never happened. Foxconn has spent the intervening years narrowing the scope of its ambitions in Wisconsin, barely meeting the hiring targets set by the state along the way, and has invested just 3% of the total $ 10 billion so far. The largest built structure measures just 1 million square feet. It was recently reclassified in official documents as a deposit.
Although Foxconn initially claimed that it would manufacture LCD panels on site, in reality the company spent years looking for a viable product to make in Wisconsin. For a while, she said she would use the space to create an “AI 8K + 5G ecosystem” – although the company has never coherently explained what it means. Foxconn also publicly considered making coffee robots and, at the beginning of the pandemic, fans.
“I took on the Wisconsin task and I need to make it viable, so I need to find a product that fits that location,” said Liu, referring to how he inherited the project from previous president (and founder of Foxconn) Terry Gou, who left the company to accept an ill-fated candidacy for the presidency of Taiwan. “Whether in Wisconsin or Mexico, it is not political, but business, from my perspective.”