Foxconn CEO Gou Not Yet Committed to Keynoting IFA, Say Show Organizers

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou “has not made a final statement” about whether he will keep his 2017 pledge to keynote this year’s IFA, spokeswoman Nicole von der Ropp emailed us Tuesday. Gou withdrew as an IFA keynoter two weeks before last year’s show, citing Foxconn’s focus on a “global investment project" that strained “the company's strategic management resources” -- in apparent reference to the $10 billion display fab it agreed to build in southeastern Wisconsin (see 1708160025). “We have decided that 2018 will be the ideal time for the previously announced IFA keynote,” Gou said then. Foxconn will break ground on the Wisconsin display fab in a Thursday ceremony at which President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak. IFA “so far” has four keynotes “confirmed” for the 2018 show, of which LG Electronics and Huawei have been announced, said von der Ropp.