Foxconn In Wisconsin: Good News And Bad News

[octoberlib]

3. Foxconn is known for not following through on it's big pronouncements.

In 2013, the company earned headlines for a plan to invest $30 million and hire 500 workers for a new high-tech factory in central Pennsylvania. The state’s governor boasted about the deal. Economists wrote think pieces explaining how this was the leading edge of a U.S. manufacturing renaissance.

But once the attention died down and the politicians moved on, Foxconn never followed through with its plans in Pennsylvania


“While I welcome new businesses to the state, I want to ensure any state-subsidized private sector jobs offer a living wage and safe working conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D) said in a statement Wednesday. “This company has a concerning track record of big announcements with little follow through. Given the lack of details, I’m skeptical about this announcement, and we will have to see if there is a legislative appetite for a $1 [billion] to $3 billion corporate welfare package.”

Pennsylvania was not the only place that was disappointed by a promised Foxconn investment.

In 2014, the company signed a letter of intent to invest up to $1 billion in Indonesia. That investment has yet to occur. That same year, Foxconn said it planned to invest $5 billion over five years in India, creating 50,000 jobs. But three years later, Foxconn’s investment has amounted to only a small fraction of its original promise.

And there was Foxconn’s plans for a $5 billion investment in Vietnam and $10 billion in Brazil — both projects have fallen far short of expectations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/26/foxconn-to-announce-new-factory-in-wisconsin-in-much-needed-win-for-trump-and-scott-walker/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.0f233ccecba5