The tech giant has so far failed to live up to its contractual obligation to the state.
Foxconn Technology Group will start manufacturing “key components for Google servers” in 2021’s first quarter at the company’s mostly empty Mount Pleasant facility, according to Bloomberg.
Such a deal would be a big step for the Taiwanese tech giant, but it is still falling far short of its contractual obligation with the state to bring a sprawling $10 billion LCD manufacturing facility and 13,000 jobs to Racine County.
Foxconn refused to say if it will be building server parts for Google, citing company policy and “commercial sensitivity,” but it confirmed it is working on something involving servers.
“Foxconn is currently developing data center infrastructure in response to customer demand in Wisconsin and [the] US,” the company told UpNorthNews in an emailed statement.
The company did not answer a question about whether the reported Quarter 1 2021 timeline for the start of manufacturing was accurate.
Google could not immediately be reached for comment.
It is unclear what impact the new deal could have on Foxconn’s state contract. State officials last month told the company it no longer qualifies for any of the massive $3 billion subsidy package laid out in the contract.
The contract was essentially invalidated after a state report found the company was building something that more closely resembled a showcase facility than a massive factory, and it only employed 281 qualifying full-time employees by the end of 2019—less than 15% of its contractual target.
Foxconn has completed a 1-million-square-foot facility that it claims will build LCDs, but the alleged factory is not equipped for manufacturing and it would be the smallest of its kind anywhere in the world if it indeed built screens, according to the state report.
The state report found that Foxconn took out a permit to use the factory as storage. The company claimed it would soon begin using about a third of the factory for “Phase 0,” but it never answered questions about what Phase 0 was.
Jonathon Sadowski A Racine native, Jonathon most recently reported for the Racine Journal Times. He has a degree in multimedia journalism from Columbia College Chicago and was a digital news intern for two Chicago stations, WMAQ and WLS-TV.
