Jet linked to Foxconn visits Madison
Two Racine Co. villages held joint meetings during plane’s first stop in Milwaukee
A private jet believed to be connected to Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that has said it plans to build new factories employing thousands in the United States, landed in Madison Wednesday, then departed within hours.
The jet’s presence at Dane County Regional Airport likely will intensify speculation about Wisconsin’s chances to win a piece of the huge investment in manufacturing capacity Foxconn has said it will make.
The state is holding active talks about a deal, a source with direct knowledge of the discussions said. Multiple sites in Wisconsin are being considered, the source said.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan also has confirmed the Wisconsin-Foxconn discussions, saying last Friday that he had met with officials from the company at Gov. Scott Walker’s request.
The Gulfstream 650 jet that visited Madison Wednesday is registered in Taiwan. It landed at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport Sunday, ac-
cording to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
It was still at Mitchell on Monday, when the village boards of two Racine County communities, Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant, held an unusual joint meeting.
The closed session was called to discuss “a potential future development project.” The meeting came less than a week after 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.
The Gulfstream jet left Mitchell late Wednesday morning, according to FlightAware, and landed in Madison around noon. Brent McHenry, a spokesman for Dane County Regional Airport, confirmed the plane’s arrival — and its departure less than three hours later.
A spokesman for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. declined to comment.
The luxury passenger jet is the same type and
color scheme as a plane used by Foxconn CEO Terry Gou. No authoritative information on the ownership of that specific aircraft has been available, but the tail number shows it is registered in Taiwan, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations.
Wisconsin and other states are vying for new factories and billions in investment Foxconn has said it wants to make in the U.S.
Among those also in the running is Michigan, where the state House of Representatives on Wednesday approved new tax incentives legislators have sought in part because of the effort to lure companies such as Foxconn. Officials from Foxconn have visited Michigan at least three times recently, checking potential plant locations, the Detroit Free Press has reported.
Meanwhile, The Columbus Dispatch has reported that Foxconn is considering sites in central Ohio, too.
Foxconn is a contract manufacturer best known for producing Apple’s iPhone. The firm is huge, with revenue last year of about $135 billion and a reported 1 million
workers in China, where it does most of its manufacturing.
Last year Foxconn acquired Japan’s Sharp Corp., which makes flat display panels for televisions and other uses. It is panel production that Foxconn is considering locating in the U.S.