More fuel added to speculation about new Foxconn factory
Plane thought to belong to company executive was spotted at Mitchell airport
Two hints emerged Monday that Racine County is Wisconsin’s leading candidate site for a huge new Foxconn Technology Group electronics factory.
A Gulfstream 650 registered in Taiwan sat parked at the north end of Mitchell International Airport.
And the village boards of two county communities, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant, met behind closed doors for about an hour to discuss “a potential future development project in Racine County.”
After the meeting, Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot emerged and said he could not comment on the discussions.
Such joint sessions are not unheard of, but are unusual. The two village boards have met together five or six times in the
past decade, said Mary Cole, village administrator, clerk and treasurer for Sturtevant.
The meeting agenda provided no details of the potential development project and didn’t name any company that might be involved.
Meanwhile, the Gulfstream 650 luxury passenger jet is the same type and color scheme as a plane used by Foxconn executive Terry Gou. No one could confirm whether it is actually Gou’s plane — although speculation on social media was rampant.
The plane arrived in Milwaukee Sunday afternoon from Long Beach, Calif. A Mitchell airport official deferred questions to Signature Flight Support, which handles private jets at the airport. A Signature official would say only that the plane is not registered under Gou’s name. He declined to reveal the name the aircraft is registered under.
Last week, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and two other leaders in the Legislature said in a memo that Foxconn wants to locate in southeastern Wisconsin, bringing up to 10,000 jobs. At the same time, the legislators suggested that the development was being threatened by delays in providing money to improve I-94 through Racine and Kenosha counties.
Vos, a Republican, represents most of
southern Racine County.
Racine Mayor John Dickert has said representatives of an effort to land Foxconn have approached the city about providing water and sewer service to a potential large plant outside the Racine limits, along the interstate. The city provides water to Mount Pleasant.
And the Racine County Board held three closed-door sessions in June to discuss committing public money to unnamed “competitive multisite economic development opportunities.”
After the most recent session, on June 27, the board took the unusual step of approving — unanimously and without discussion — a special $500,000 letter of credit to the area’s economic development organization to cover expenses related to unspecified economic development projects.
M.T. Boyle, chief of staff to County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, said after the action that as far as she knew the county had never previously extended a line of credit to the economic development corporation.
Foxconn is a contract manufacturer based in Taiwan, but with most of its factories in China, where it reportedly employs 1 million workers. It is best known for manufacturing the iPhone for Apple, but last year acquired Japan’s Sharp Corp., which makes flat display panels for television sets and other uses.
It is panel production that Foxconn is considering
locating in the United States – possibly a move to protect its massive exports from China against trade barriers threatened by President Donald Trump.
Foxconn has said it may spend more than $10 billion on new U.S. factories, with as many as six states under consideration.
Last month, during a visit to the Milwaukee area, Trump stoked speculation that Wisconsin is a leading candidate for Foxconn when he referred to negotiations with an unnamed electronics manufacturer that matches the company’s description.
Accompanied by Gov. Scott Walker during a stop at Waukesha County Technical College on June 13, Trump said, “Just backstage, we were negotiating with a major, major, incredible manufacturer of phones and computers and televisions, and I think they’re going to give the governor a very happy surprise very soon.”