In 2013, Foxconn’s chairman sent a jolt through this state capital when he said his company — best known for making Apple iPhones in China — would invest $30 million and hire 500 workers for a new high-tech factory in central Pennsylvania.
Locals were giddy. Foxconn had a small office here, but this seemed like the start of an entire new industry. Pennsylvania’s governor boasted about the deal. The Brookings Institution think tank hailed Foxconn’s decision as a sign of U.S. manufacturing’s strength.
But the factory was never built. The jobs never came. “It just seemed to fade to black” after the announcement, recalled a local official. It was the start of a mystery, created by a chief executive known to promise projects all over the world that never quite pan out. Yet few people seem to notice. Foxconn and others continue to get credit for deals that never take place. In December, Pennsylvania’s economic development staff was still touting the $30 million factory that never was.
In
2014, as the Pennsylvania deal was quietly dying, Gou teased the opening of a LCD display factory in the states. His company talked with officials in Colorado and Arizona. Nothing happened.
That same year, the company signed a letter of intent to invest up to $1 billion in Indonesia. That investment still has not occurred.
Foxconn said it would invest $5 billion over five years in India as part of an ambitious expansion in 2014. The deal would create up to 50,000 jobs, Gou said. But Foxconn’s investment in India has amounted to only a small fraction of what it originally promised.
Similar results were seen in Vietnam, where Foxconn committed to a $5 billion investment in 2007, and in Brazil, where Foxconn spoke of a $10 billion plan in 2011. The company made its first major foray in Vietnam only last year. In Brazil, Foxconn has an iPhone factory, but its investment has fallen far short of expectations.
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