2017-07-26nytimes.com

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, said Wednesday it would open its first major American factory in Wisconsin, a boost both for the battleground state's economy and the Trump administration's efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing.

White House officials highlighted President Trump's direct negotiations with the company for the project, which they said would create 3,000 jobs and represent a $10 billion investment.

...

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has made promises to invest in the United States before, including in Pennsylvania, with little to show for it.

That history left some experts skeptical of the company's latest commitment, and of the White House's eagerness to claim credit for a major economic victory.

...

"A flat-panel display is not a small thing, with today's TVs; it's certainly not inexpensive to ship," he said. "Building close to where the customers are makes sense for a product like that."

Factories that make flat-panel screens, like plants that produce computer chips, are highly automated, offsetting the labor cost advantage that China enjoys with other goods it produces, like iPhones, that require a great deal of painstaking human effort to assemble.

More political theater for something that was probably going to happen eventually anyways ("on-shoring" has been a distinct trend in recent years... not surprising that much of globalization was driven by freakishly-cheap transportation costs).



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