Foxconn Wisconsin Display Fab 'Symbol of What Is to Come,' Says Ross

Foxconn’s $10 billion display fab in southeastern Wisconsin is “a symbol of what is to come” -- the first of a “large number of investments in advanced manufacturing facilities being reshored from overseas locations back to the United States,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in an opinion column published Thursday in The Journal Times of Racine County, Wisconsin, to coincide with the factory’s groundbreaking. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou “has already said that he is considering another enormous facility in the United States,” said Ross. The Trump administration “understands how important it is to rebuild the U.S. consumer electronics manufacturing sector,” he said. The U.S. “still leads in the creation of innovative, high-tech products such as semiconductors, state-of-the art materials and components, parts and software, but it must regain its footing in the large-scale production of consumer electronics,” he said. Rebuilding the consumer electronics industry “provides researchers in U.S. universities and laboratories with an avenue to commercialize their R&D,” and “reinvigorates the large U.S. industrial base of innovative high-tech companies,” he said. “For every new job created by Foxconn three to four jobs will be created in the supply chain, not to mention the hundreds of jobs supported in local communities.” President Donald Trump spoke at the groundbreaking.