Foxconn seeks immense sites in Wisconsin for possible factories

Rick Romell | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The giant Taiwanese company that has said it is considering investing billions to expand its television panel manufacturing to the U.S. – and possibly to Wisconsin – wants a 1,000-acre site for the operation.

Maybe.

The immense size of the parcel specified in the company’s recent request for proposals – as big as the Village of Shorewood – indicates the scope of the potential manufacturing complex.

“That’s a massive, massive amount of acreage to have for any sort of manufacturing,” said James T. Barry III, a longtime commercial real estate professional in Milwaukee.

But Foxconn Technology Group, the firm currently being wooed by both Wisconsin and Michigan to build factories that could employ thousands, hasn’t followed through on some of its previously announced plans.

In November 2013, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced that Foxconn planned to invest $30 million in a “high-end technology manufacturing facility” expected to create 500 jobs over the following two years.

The company had a small research operation in Harrisburg, Pa., and the new factory was to be opened in that area. The research operation is still there, but not the factory.

“It just never happened,” David Black, president and CEO of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber, the area’s economic development organization, said Thursday. “I wish I could tell you what happened with it. ... Long story short, nothing ever came of it.”

Similarly, the Washington Post reported in March that Foxconn has spoken of making major investments in India, Vietnam and Brazil, but with results that have not matched the original announcements.

Speculation about Foxconn’s intentions in the U.S. heated up in January, when founder and CEO Terry Gou told reporters in Taiwan that the company was considering investing billions in the U.S. to build a display plant that eventually could create 30,000 to 50,000 jobs, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

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That sparked renewed interest in Pennsylvania, as well as in Michigan and Wisconsin – three manufacturing-heavy states that were critical to President Donald Trump's election last year.

Wisconsin seemed to have grabbed the inside track Tuesday, when Trump, visiting Milwaukee, alluded to negotiations with an unspecified company and said Gov. Scott Walker might get “a very happy surprise very soon.”

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Foxconn – its formal name is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. – had revenue last year of about $135 billion. That’s roughly equivalent to Amazon.com, which ranked 12th on the Fortune 500 list.

Best known for assembling Apple’s iPhones, Foxconn last year bought a share of stumbling Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp.

It is Sharp’s large TV panels, and not the iPhone, that Foxconn is considering making in the United States, said a Taiwan-based analyst who follows the company, but asked not to be named.

The analyst said Trump, who has made job creation a central theme and has suggested raising barriers to stem imports, likely would have an influential role in where any new Foxconn factories might go in the U.S. In choosing a location, Foxconn would "definitely want to get a benefit from (a) Trump government," the analyst said.

Contacted by email, a Foxconn spokeswoman confirmed that the company is "exploring a potential investment that would represent a major expansion" of its current U.S. operations.

"We are engaged in discussions with officials at various levels of government regarding our ongoing plans to significantly increase our investments in the US," she wrote. "Our company is conducting an evaluation of the conditions and potential locations for establishing manufacturing facilities in the US."

Foxconn's desire for a 1,000-acre site was contained in a request for proposals circulated about a month ago, Thomas Shircel, interim village administrator in Pleasant Prairie, said Thursday.

In addition, he said, the request sought a second parcel, that one covering 400 acres.

The Kenosha County village received the request for proposals, but cannot assemble that much acreage, Shircel said.

“We just don’t have that land mass here,” he said.

For perspective, the former General Motors plant in Janesville occupied 246 acres in a complex crossed by two rail lines, according to the real estate listing for the site. Chrysler’s former engine plant in the center of Kenosha took up 109 acres.

Shircel said he couldn’t speak further about the details in the Foxconn request.

Mark Maley, spokesman for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., said Thursday that he couldn't speak specifically about ongoing discussions with companies that might invest in the state.

However, Maley stressed that finding sites would not be an issue – even sites as large as those described in the Foxconn requests for proposals.

"There is land available throughout the state for major economic development projects," Maley said. "We have the ability pretty much in every region to put together sites to accommodate large projects. I guess that’s my main point of calling – to make it clear that if a major project lands in Wisconsin, there definitely is acreage available for that.”

Another indication of how seriously Wisconsin is pursuing Foxconn: Two weeks ago Gov. Walker took an unusual trip – flying to Japan and returning within just three days, without advance notice.

In a brief email to reporters on June 2, Walker communications director Tom Evenson said the governor was traveling that day to Japan with WEDC officials "to pursue a significant foreign direct investment opportunity for our state. He will return on Sunday, June 4."

While Foxconn is a Taiwanese firm, Sharp is based in Japan.

Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder confirmed this week to the Detroit Free Press that he, too, traveled to Japan in early June to explore economic opportunities for his state.

Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.