In April last year, foreign media The Verge reported that 's "Innovation Center" located in various parts of Wisconsin was basically vacant and the decoration was stagnant. A few days after the article was published, Foxconn held a press conference and announced that it had bought another building and told reporters that the report of The Verge was wrong. Specifically, Foxconn's Alan Yeung said the Verge report "There are a lot of inaccuracies, and we will actually make corrections and we will make a statement on this."
"I can assure you that they are not vacant," said Yang. "But we don't want people to climb up the trees and see if there are people living in our building," he said. "We're not actually trying to buy buildings and keep them empty. We do have a plan and we'll actually make sure the buildings are enough and well equipped and then move in. So, in the coming months, in the next year or so, you'll see more buildings."
" I can assure you that they won't be empty, nor are they empty right now," he added. Yang Zhaolun made the above remarks on April 12, 2019. It's April 12, 2020, which has led Foxconn to promise a statement or correction for The Verge's report on the Wisconsin empty building for a whole year. But this statement or correction has not arrived. And these buildings are still vacant.
This is another photo of Foxconn’s Innovation Center in Euclair, Wisconsin last Friday.
Foxconn originally promised to turn two buildings in Euclare into office spaces and research facilities. But Foxconn has not purchased one of the buildings, nor has it applied for a substantial building permit for the other building - the downtown building with glass curtain walls in the picture above. Matt Jewel, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Euclidean near
, said Foxconn was going to recruit talents from the school, but there was "no obvious activity" in the school's office building. In February this year, Foxconn also missed the school's job fair. There is no progress in the Green Bay Innovation Center, either. In October 2019, WPR reported that the projects appeared to be on hold. A few days later, Foxconn said it still plans to develop the Innovation Center, and the company appears to have restarted at least some of its projects, choosing a contractor to renovate one floor of the Green Bay building. At the time, the company said it planned to renovate 4,800 square feet of office space for company events and recruitment events. It was originally planned to work for 200 employees in 16,000 square feet of office space.
According to Green Bay Development Director Kevin Vonck, Foxconn submitted a smaller space plan at the end of 2019: 3,500 square feet of office space that can accommodate 49 people. However, no license has been provided yet and construction has not started yet. "I haven't heard anything from the Foxconn team lately," said Wendy Townsend, project manager for Green Bay Community and Economic Development. "They are often the quieter side."
When checking Foxconn's property records in Madison, no construction permit was found, and other tenants in the building did not see Foxconn's employees. The company received a 1,451 square foot renovation license at the Racine building late last year, but it is unclear if any construction is available. (Foxconn initially stated that it plans to renovate 20,000 square feet and opens in January 2019). Officials in Racine and Madison did not respond to requests for property updates.
is a seven-storey downtown building in Foxconn’s Milwaukee headquarters, which was supposed to accommodate an innovation center at the same time, and the most important license the company applied for was the remodeling of the elevator and an exit door. In January this year, Ixonia Bank moved into the first floor of the building.
Vonck said Foxconn also continues to rent out its Green Bay building to other companies. Its Madison and Racine Innovation Centers are still occupied by banks. A former Foxconn employee told The Verge that the company has never known what to do with these innovation centers. "They are a constant fulcrum," he said. The company once planned to transform it into a WeWork-style collaborative office space.But he said the leases are also one of Foxconn’s few revenue-generating projects in Wisconsin.
"The only thing I can make money during my entire time at Foxconn is the space with tenants. Nothing else brings profits or revenue," he said. "For those places that are completely empty like Euclair, we obviously don't bring any benefits. That's a loss."
Foxconn's main project, the factory in Mount Pleasant, appears to be moving forward, despite the scale being much smaller than the 10.5 generation LCD display manufacturer that the company originally promised and stipulated in a contract with the state.
Earlier this month, the company submitted a project report to the state government, saying it now has more than 550 employees, enough to receive generous subsidies. Although there are no reports that LCD manufacturing equipment has arrived at the factory, Foxconn has announced a huge glass dome that will accommodate a data center, and also announced a deal to manufacture robot coffee machines and alarm system components, known as the "high-mix, low-to-medium volume" manufacturing strategy. Last week, Foxconn and Medtronic announced plans to build ventilators at their factories within four to six weeks.
, but it is not clear whether Foxconn will receive any subsidies. The state has repeatedly warned Foxconn that the contract would have to be modified because the factory Foxconn is building is very different from the type of factory originally described in the contract and introduced a Foxconn subsidiary that was not originally within the scope of the contract. Foxconn refused to revisit the contract. It is also worth noting that last year, Foxconn claimed to have employed 189 full-time workers, but in a subsequent audit found that only 113 people met the criteria in the contract.
Missy Hughes, CEO of Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which oversees the deal, told The Verge in a statement that Foxconn's report will be audited and reviewed and negotiations on the contract are underway. "Our conversation with Foxconn on contract-to-project alignment continues -- in support of this project, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation aims to do so," Hughes said.
The plant will open in May - Foxconn believes construction is "necessary" and work continues even under Wisconsin's stay-at-home order. It is not clear what products the factory will produce after it is put into production.
Foxconn did not respond to a request for comment.
