Foxconn CEO may be headed to White House to discuss Wisconsin factory

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iPhone sales drive Apple’s biggest supplier to big profits
Plan for Foxconn's Wisconsin factory seem to have changed along the way.
Photo: CBS

Departing Foxconn chairman Terry Gou is reportedly heading to the U.S. where he will have a meeting at the White House. The subject of the meeting will be Foxconn’s plans to open a factory in Wisconsin.

Foxconn maintains that it’s working hard to deliver the factory it received $4 billion in tax breaks for. However, behind-the-scenes dealings suggest that the company may be trying to renegotiate terms.

It’s not clear whether Gou’s meeting (which is unconfirmed) would be with President Donald Trump. Foxconn’s arrival in the U.S. was heavily touted as a success story. It was based on Trump’s promise to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Trump has already stepped in once to challenge Terry Gou after Foxconn changed its plans for the factory.

Gou, like Trump, is a businessman with political ambitions. With a net worth of $7.6 billion, he is Taiwan’s richest person. The 69-year-old Foxconn founder is reportedly planning to run for the position of president of Taiwan at an election in January.

In a previous speech, Trump has described Terry Gou as, “one of the great businessmen in the world.” At the groundbreaking for the Wisconsin factory, Trump said that, “As Foxconn has discovered, there is no better place to build, hire, and grow than right here in the United States.”

Foxconn has long been one of Apple’s biggest suppliers. However, it’s not clear whether the Foxconn factory in Wisconsin would be producing any products used by the tech giant.

Source: Reuters

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