U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday hailed manufacturing giant Foxconn for a 10 billion dollar investment plan in the state of Wisconsin, potentially creating thousands of jobs.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce that Foxconn ... will build a state-of- the-art manufacturing facility for the production of LCD panel products in Wisconsin," Trump said in a job announcement at the White House.
"The company's initial investment of more than 10 billion dollars will create 3,000 jobs at a minimum, with the potential for up to 13,000 jobs in the very near future," he said, accompanied by Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou.
"America doesn't have a single LCD factory to produce a complete 8k system. So we are going to change that," Gou said.
The investment plan, labeled by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as "the largest economic development project in the history of Wisconsin," involves a virtual village, with housing, stores and service businesses spread over at least 1000 acres, according to media reports.
Multiple states competed over the Foxconn investment, but Wisconsin secured Gou's favor after agreeing to subsidize the enterprise with 3 billion dollars for the next 15 years if Foxconn fulfills its promise to pay an average annual salary of 54,000 dollars to its local employees.
The investment, if followed through, will be seen as another victory for Trump, Wisconsin native House Speaker Paul Ryan and Governor Walker, who is running for reelection next year.
In his speech, Trump made clear that he should receive the credit for the investment deal, saying "if I didn't get elected, he definitely would not be spending 10 billion dollars."
Foxconn is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, and is most notable for assembling iPhones in China.
