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Foxconn Technology Group’s CEO said the company could manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Wisconsin. Pictured is construction of the Foxconn factory in Mount Pleasant. T (Mike De Sisti and Jim Nelson/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Foxconn Technology Group, an international Taiwan-based company that pledged to make liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens in Racine County, now say they plan to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Wisconsin.
Foxconn CEO Young Liu on Wednesday said in a call with investors the company plans to develop a “new energy industry” in Wisconsin including battery cells and packs for electric vehicles.
“We will develop new energy industry in Wisconsin, including battery cell, battery pack. Because Ohio is an assembly plant, there will be battery pack as well. Ohio will mainly be EV battery pack, while Wisconsin will mainly have new energy, ESS and battery cell,” Liu said at the meeting.
Japanese publication Nikkei Asia first broke the news.
The onset of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which includes tax credits for electric vehicle manufacturers and funding for electric vehicle infrastructure, coincided with Foxconn’s proposal to produce batteries in the Midwest, company officials said.
“Hon Hai expanded into the United States well before the Inflation Reduction Act was introduced. We developed in the United States is not because of IRA, but due to the trend of regionalized manufacturing. After we deployed into the United States and Mexico, here comes IRA. To us, the timing is pretty good. Aside from developing EV assembly locally, we will have battery cell, battery pack and EEA structure,” Liu said at the meeting.
“IRA is very beneficial to us,” Liu added.
Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Technology Group in Taiwan and China, announced in 2022 it signed an agreement to acquire an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
Former Gov. Scott Walker and Former President Donald Trump in 2017 contracted Foxconn to build a facility in Mount Pleasant, Wis., with nearly $4 billion in state and local tax incentives, The Associated Press reported. That year, the company promised to build a flat screen panel manufacturing facility to employ up to 13,000 people. Instead, less than 2000 jobs were brought to Wisconsin.
