Say Cheese: Foxconn to build U.S. plant in Wisconsin?

During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump called on Apple to move production of its most popular product, the Apple iPhone, to the U.S. Trump's goal was to create more jobs for Americans and to stop exporting openings overseas. But Trump didn't take some things into consideration. Moving production from low wage countries to higher wage countries means that the cost of producing the iPhone will rise. And in order to maintain the same profit margin, iPhone prices will also rise making the device less affordable for Americans.

Back in November, a little over a week after the election, Apple said that it would consider moving some iPhone production to the U.S. Talks were held with the major contract manufacturers and there was some discussion about building a U.S. based supply chain. Today, Foxconn, the leading iPhone assembler, said that it is considering building a facility in Wisconsin. Besides the Dairy State, Michigan is also said to be in the running to host the factory.

Yesterday, President Trump visited Milwaukee and mentioned that an unnamed company was negotiating with the state to build a factory. Trump said that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might get "a very happy surprise very soon." Foxconn assembles smartphones and tablets for Apple, BlackBerry, Sony and other brands. In China, it employs over 1 million people. Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, says that a skilled workforce was probably one of the things that attracted Foxconn to the state.


When Apple spoke with Foxconn and Pegatron back in November about the possibility of building iPhone models in the U.S., both firms said that their main concern was creating a supply chain infrastructure similar to what was available for the manufacturers in China. Apparently the numerous studies that were created show that Wisconsin has what it takes to build such a supply chain for Foxconn.

source: WisconsinStateJournal via MacRumors