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Foxconn will only create 1,500 jobs, says Wisconsin governor

Foxconn will only create 1,500 jobs, says Wisconsin governor

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Far short of the target in the state’s contract

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stands in front of an enormous Wisconsin state flag, his palms pressed together
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Foxconn factory in Wisconsin will only create 1,500 jobs when it starts production next May, Gov. Tony Evers told CNBC yesterday. That’s the same number Foxconn has been saying since it shifted plans for the factory a few months ago, and far short of the 13,000 jobs that were promised when President Trump broke ground a year ago. Evers has been negotiating with Foxconn since he replaced former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, and he says he now has “clarity” on Foxconn’s plans.

1,500 jobs is short of the 1,800 jobs required for Foxconn to get the next set of tax credits under its $4 billion deal with the state. Foxconn already missed its first jobs target under that contract, hiring only 156 employees instead of the required 260 last year. Instead, Foxconn has bought a series of empty buildings for “innovation centers” around the state as part of a promised “AI 8K+5G ecosystem” (although it’s never specified what that ecosystem actually is). While Foxconn initially disputed The Verge’s reports of the buildings being empty, it has now been 89 days since the company promised a statement or correction regarding the plans for the innovation centers.

The sharp decline in the number of jobs is due to Foxconn canceling the promised 20 million-square-foot Generation 10.5 LCD fab to produce 65-inch TVs, which was specified in the contract with Wisconsin, and instead breaking ground on a 1 million-square-foot facility that the company claims will be a Generation 6 fab that produces smaller LCDs. That plant will also assemble servers and networking equipment, according to Foxconn, which might also explain why display manufacturing experts have said that the construction plans submitted to the state do not appear to show a fab.

The plans do show a meditation room and a “VR experiences room,” however.