iPhone-maker Foxconn to build flat-screen display factory in Wisconsin

Enlarge / The OLED-toting Google Pixel (left) next to the iPhone 7 Plus' LCD panel. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Foxconn, one of the electronics manufacturers that makes Apple's iPhones, revealed plans today to build a factory in Wisconsin to produce flat-screen displays. Foxconn's total investment in the Wisconsin factory amounts to $10 billion, more than the original $7 billion that Foxconn had been talking about investing in US manufacturing since Donald Trump took office as President. The factory will create at least 3,000 jobs and upwards of 13,000 jobs, as well as up to 22,000 induced jobs in other parts of Wisconsin. President Trump praised the deal at the press event, claiming it was a win for anyone who "believes in the label 'Made in the USA.'"

The factory will be located in southeastern Wisconsin in House Speaker Paul Ryan's congressional district. However, it will not come for free. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said at the event that Foxconn will receive an incentive package $3 billion over the next few years, including state, local, and federal incentives.

Foxconn will build flat-screen LCD display panels at the new factory under the Sharp brand, which the company bought in 2016 for $1.5 billion. At the press event, Gou and Governor Walker emphasized LCD display manufacturing for the automotive, healthcare, and other industries, rather than OLED display manufacturing.

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