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Apple, Foxconn, and Trump


Randy W

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in the NYTimes

 

Foxconn Says It Plans to Build Factory in Wisconsin, Adding 3,000 Jobs

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, said Wednesday it would open its first major American factory in Wisconsin, a boost both for the battleground state’s economy and the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing.

 

. . .

 

The new factory, which would produce flat-panel display screens for televisions and other consumer electronics, could raise Wisconsin’s profile in advanced manufacturing. Older industrial firms in the state, like Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, have struggled recently, with the motorcycle maker saying last week that it planned to lay off 180 workers.

 

. . .

 

And Mr. Trump said Tuesday that Apple had promised to build three large plants in the United States. The company, which owns only one factory anywhere, declined to comment on whether such promises had been made.

Most of Apple’s iPhones are built by Foxconn in China, and Apple has said in the past that it would be very difficult to move that work to the United States.

 

 

 

in the WSJ

 

Trump Comments on U.S. Factories Make It Awkward for Apple In May interview, Apple’s Cook indicated the company was unlikely to shift product assembly to the U.S.

 

The pressure threatened to grow on Apple with the announcement Wednesday by the head of Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer, that it plans to invest $10 billion in a display-panel factory in Wisconsin. Foxconn made the announcement at a White House ceremony with Mr. Trump. A senior White House official told reporters the plant wasn’t among the three potential Apple facilities to which the president had referred.

 

 

 

 

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. . . and, of course, the SCMP

 

The incentives provided for the plants in Guangzhou and Wisconsin are described in the article

 

Despite urging the US government to copy Guangzhou, the iPhone manufacturer’s Wisconsin plant could prove more cost effective in the long run

 

 

Eight months ago, Terry Gou, the chairman of Taiwanese electronics processing giant Foxconn, was attending a deal-signing ceremony in the Chinese city of Guangzhou and pledging to invest US$8.8 billion for a new LCD plant there.

 

At the time Gou told the South China Morning Post that he was impressed by the Guangzhou government’s efficiency and “the US government needs to see it”.
The Guangzhou deal by Gou, whose business entered the mainland in 1988 and now employs more the million workers across the country, was hailed by China’s government-backed media as a proof that China is still the world’s best place for manufacturers, especially hi-tech ones.

 

. . .

 

Eight months later, Gou made headlines again with a ceremony in the White House, at which Gou and US President Donald Trump announced that Foxconn, the assembler of iPhone and iPads and other gadgets, would build a new LCD display panel factory in Wisconsin.
The two planned factories, in many ways, are similar. The US one has a total investment of US$10 billion versus Guangzhou project’s US$8.8 billion, the US plant will employ 13,000 workers when fully operational while the Guangzhou factory is expected to employ up to 15,000.
The US plant is scheduled to open in 2020, a year after its counterpart in Guangzhou. Both plants will produce LCD screens that can be used for televisions, mobile phones and other smart devices.

 

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There was a great story a year or two ago about a Chinese owned and run textile factory in one of the addition to the American workers being slower than their China-based counterparts, they tended to arrive late sometimes .... which drove the Chinese masters crazy.

 

My thought was it was due to American workers not living in dorms outside the factory.

 

13,000 workers to assemble flat screen tv's sounds like 12,000 too many.

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