One of Apple's biggest suppliers says it may
spend more than $7 billion to build a new factory on U.S. soil that would
create tens of thousands of jobs.
Foxconn is famous for its enormous iPhone
assembly plants in China. Its potential investment in the U.S. came to light
last month when Softbank (SFTBF) CEO Masayoshi Son was photographed leaving a
meeting with Donald Trump. Son was holding a document suggesting Foxconn could
create 50,000 jobs.
Over the weekend, Foxconn's billionaire
chairman, Terry Gou, filled in some of the gaps in the plan.
He told reporters that the plan to build a
plant for displays was still very tentative, but if it went ahead the investment
would exceed $7 billion and could create 30,000 to 50,000 jobs, according to
news reports.
Gou singled out Pennsylvania as a possible
location, adding that the investment would depend on Foxconn being able to
negotiate good rates for land and power.
Foxconn, which is based in Taiwan, said it was "conducting an
evaluation of the conditions and potential locations for establishing
manufacturing facilities in the U.S."
"While it is not currently possible to
confirm the location for that potential investment or estimate the number of
jobs that might be created, it is expected that it would create many direct and
indirect job opportunities with the new operation and throughout the supply
chain in the U.S.," the company said.
Softbank's Son made his own pledge after the
December meeting with Trump to invest $50 billion in U.S. startups and create
50,000 jobs. Much of the money is expected to come from a fund SoftBank has
already set up with Saudi Arabia.
No comments:
Post a Comment