Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Wisconsin and Taiwan's Foxconn

There is currently a lot of chatter about the Wisconsin / Taiwan Foxconn deal. Here’s some information on the company:
  • Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Foxconn currently has 12 factories in nine Chinese cities along with factories in Asia, Brazil, Europe, and Mexico.
  • The company is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer by revenue that, as of 2012, produced approximately 40 percent of all consumer electronics products sold.
  • Foxconn is the largest private employer in China and one of the largest employers worldwide.
  • Major customers comprise all the biggies including Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon, Google, and Dell.
  • In reaction to a spate of worker suicides in which 14 people died in 2010, a report from 20 Chinese universities described Foxconn factories as labor camps and detailed widespread worker abuse and illegal overtime. The company claims these issues have been resolved.
And here’s a quick summary of the deal as it currently stands based on what I’m reading:
  • The complex will be located at a 1,000-acre site in southeastern Wisconsin.
  • This will be the first liquid crystal display manufacturing facility in North America and that has environmentalists a little freaked out.
  • It will take four years to build and will employ up to 10,000 construction workers over those four years.
  • The factory floor area will cover 20 million square feet.
  • Up to 13,000 workers could eventually be employed and paid an average of $53,875 a year, plus benefits.
  • Will generate estimated $181 million in state and local tax revenue annually, including $60 million in local property taxes.
  • Wisconsin will kick in $3 billion in state incentives over 15 years.
  • Wisconsin is not projected to break even on the incentive package for at least 25 years (that's 2042).
These projections factor in the maximum of 13,000 workers along with thousands of indirect jobs associated with the project, which Wisconsin officials have said will solidify the Foxconn project as a net win. Foxconn also say they are planning a research and development facility for autonomous vehicle components in Michigan.

Sources:

No comments: