Apple and other tech companies have come under fire for taking all their manufacturing to China, but iPhone-maker Foxconn is looking to turn the tables a bit with its announcement that it plans to build a new $30 million high-tech manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania.
Foxconn chairman Terry Gou says his company will invest $30 million over two years to build the new plant that will build components for telecommunications equipment and Internet servers. Gou says his company is also funding $10 million worth of R&D at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg.
The new Foxconn plant will be located in Harrisburg, PA where the company already has a small manufacturing facility run by 30 people. Once its completed, the new plant will employ about 500 people.
Opening up a new plant in the U.S. could be a useful marketing move by Foxconn who has become a symbol of outsourcing as it employs over 1.6 million workers globally. Foxconn also has factories in California and Texas that make electronics components as well, but Gou says that he views the opening of a bigger factory in Harrisburg as an investment in America’s manufacturing “renaissance” which has seen other manufacturers seeking to build products in the U.S.
Source: Bloomberg
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
