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Businesses The Almighty Buck China United States Apple

Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs (arstechnica.com) 381

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturing company best known for its partnership with Apple, has said that it is mulling a $7 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing that could create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou says the company is talking with the state of Pennsylvania among others about getting the land and electricity subsidies it would need to build a factory. "If U.S. state governments are willing to provide these terms, and we calculate and it is cheaper than shipping from China or Japan, then why wouldn't Sharp build a factory in the U.S.?" said Gou. The factory would build flat-panel screens under the Sharp name -- Foxconn bought Sharp around this time last year for $5.1 billion. Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu hinted in October of 2016 that U.S. manufacturing could be a possibility for Sharp, and he also indicated that Apple could begin using OLED display panels in future iPhones. Apple currently uses OLED in the Apple Watch and in the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, but otherwise it hasn't pushed to adopt the technology as some Android phone manufacturers have.
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Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs

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  • I worry with all the changes over the last year that something is going to give. I'd prefer Japan keep control. Although jobs for the US is a super nice thing for us.

    • they had their moments in history when they were best but generally they have been middle to upper end of the range with only brief stints at the top.
  • Recycling again (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Daemonik ( 171801 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:27PM (#53723705) Homepage
    Sad to see the Trump MAGA's once again fooled by companies recycling old press releases.
  • by NEDHead ( 1651195 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:30PM (#53723735)

    No way flat screen manufacture is going to create 50k permanent jobs.

    • Yeah, I was thinking that exact thing.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @05:31PM (#53724279) Homepage Journal

      Panasonic's newer factories in Japan are "lights out", as in they are so automated that they could run with the lights off.

      It's the only way to make high end displays. Dust free, parts moved by robot, precision assembly way beyond what a human could manage.

    • Of course not, but look who they're trying to do business with; tell Trump what he wants to hear, so he can regurgitate numbers through Twitter, and BAM! Here's your subsidy and your permit.

      When those 50k jobs don't manifest themselves, and 1000 robots are building TVs, do you really think the new administration is going to let the public see the real employment numbers?
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by ilotgov ( 637717 )
      I agree completely, according to this: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966 [bbc.com] it will actually take at least 10k jobs away from the US after they are done.
    • Stop moving the goalpost. No one said "permanent", and these figures are always construction jobs and nothing to do with real permanent work afterwards.

    • Most of these jobs will be construction work actually building the plant. Many of those will be workers who already have a job in construction but now have a juicy contract to look forward to, and the remainder will be labourers whose jobs will only last until the plant is finished. Throw in a handful further up and down the supply chains if you're feeling generous.

      Job creation figures are the last statistics that one should be taking at face value.

  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:30PM (#53723743) Journal

    "the company is talking with the state of Pennsylvania among others about getting the land and electricity subsidies it would need to build a factory"

    • by tomhath ( 637240 )
      Yup. Much better to let it sit idle and put those people on welfare.
      • Yup. Much better to let it sit idle and put those people on welfare.

        So, the only two options are corporate welfare or welfare for people?

    • "the company is talking with the state of Pennsylvania among others about getting the land and electricity subsidies it would need to build a factory"

      If I lived in Pennsylvania and it happened to bring jobs to may area, I'd be for it. Pennsylvania has some pretty poor unemployment numbers. If it was me looking for a job and this created a job for me, I'd be all for it myself. In fact, here in Texas we do this tax abatements and subsidies all the time at the state, county and city levels of government and have successfully attracted some pretty big employers to the area with tens of thousands of jobs. Take a look at Texas' unemployment numbers of you

      • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @06:44PM (#53724859) Journal

        In fact, here in Texas we do this tax abatements and subsidies all the time at the state, county and city levels of government and have successfully attracted some pretty big employers to the area with tens of thousands of jobs. Take a look at Texas' unemployment numbers of you doubt this works, also look at the state's budget surplus if you doubt it is good for the economy.

        The problem is, you eventually run out of other people's money to give to corporations.

        I live in Texas, too. That budget surplus, though. It has its downside:

        http://www.mysanantonio.com/ne... [mysanantonio.com]

  • I wish these numbers were better broken down.

    How many construction workers are going to get jobs building the factory?
    How many jobs are going to be people on the line doing line work?
    How many jobs are going to be people in control booths running the massive machines cranking out screens?

    Also, unless you're going to also be building a phone factory here as well, it seems a bit short sighted to make the screens here, but the cpu's in China or Korea and the bodies who knows where? China?

    Until I see a bulldoze
    • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

      Also, unless you're going to also be building a phone factory here as well, it seems a bit short sighted to make the screens here, but the cpu's in China or Korea and the bodies who knows where? China?

      Aside from the battery, the screen assembly is the biggest and heaviest, and also the most expensive component. If they're made here, why not ship all the other components to the US for assembly. Save on import duties for domestically sold phones.

      Also the article says flat panel displays. That's vague but coul

  • Semantics (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dutchmaan ( 442553 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:38PM (#53723815) Homepage
    *considers* and *could* are not the same as *is and *will*
  • What kind of jobs? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:42PM (#53723853)

    Like a comedian said lately "I need a job to get decent money, not to be occupied. I can keep myself busy all by myself just fine".

    Are those jobs paying enough to live off them?

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      It is Foxconn. Do you really think the question needs to be asked?

    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )

      Are those jobs paying enough to live off them?

      I guess it depends on your definition of "living". I wouldn't consider the $12-$15/hour typically paid for "technical assemblers" a living wage.

  • They can seal the deal by offering the use of their parking lot for Uber drivers.

    One shift at Foxconn. One shift at Uber. One shift sleeping in the parking lot.

  • Let's see... New factory to build displays in the US, but all the phone and computer manufacturing is where the existing factories are in SE Asia... Not very economically smart.

    Apple doesn't build computers here, so why would they source screens here, ship them to China, then bring back the finished product? Or is Foxconn also planning an assembly plant here, where the display-less iPhones are assembled here?

    • Or is Foxconn also planning an assembly plant here, where the display-less iPhones are assembled here?

      Aren't the iPhone (or was it other smartphones?) already "proudly assembled in the USA" (for a very liberal definition of assembled: mostly connect the battery and close the case - none of the pesky soldering of surface-mounted component, that one goes in Asia) just for the sake of giving an impression of locally manufactured good ?
      with the "assembled... " indication being the second best marketing buzzword after the unobtainable "made in the USA"

      • by jtara ( 133429 )

        | Aren't the iPhone (or was it other smartphones?) already "proudly assembled in the USA"

        No. They are "Designed in California".

        When ordering online, it is not unusual to receive an iPhone shipped directly from China, with paperwork showing such. Especially when ordering a new one right at release. They're shipped on a pallet, but each individual box has already been addressed to it's final destination.

  • It's about time that the Chinese multinational's took advantage of all the low cost American labor available this side of the pond.

  • by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:57PM (#53723967)
    Will it have suicide nets?
  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @04:59PM (#53723991)

    That is more like it goes. Even if many companies currently are trying to suck up to Trump, they actually have no intentions to follow-through.

  • I'd like to know who injected the "could" in could create 50,000 jobs. Because they "could" also be automated by then and that may be what Foxconn has in mind. More expensive to have labor close to the market, but much cheaper to have automated manufacturing closer to the market.
    • I might add, wouldn't it be a fabulous ploy to scream about job creation, get infrastructure handouts, and then suddenly decide to automate everything?
      • Do you have the first clue about how screens are made? There are no artisanale OLED/LCD displays. If there were, you wouldn't want them.

  • by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Monday January 23, 2017 @05:19PM (#53724177) Journal

    In case anyone was wondering, shipping costs have NEARLY NOTHING to do with this.

    The Ocean Freight industry - particularly Trans-Pacific East-Bound (ie China to US) has had long term overcapacity issues for a decade, Depending on who you're talking to, essentially for every $100 they make, the industry has been spending $105-$110 for more than a handful of years.
    It got to a point that last year, you could ship a truckload of cargo from Hong Kong to Brazil port to port for $50.

    https://www.flexport.com/blog/... [flexport.com]

    They're not quite that bad anymore but still, you can ship a truckload from China to Los Angeles cheaper than the cost of delivering that load from the port to a point in Metro Los Angeles.

  • OLED screens tend to burn in.

    They do however look excellent! For a while.

    Feel the bern...or is that burn? I'm still a little confused from the election.

  • Free money for the shareholders aka "land and electricity subsidies".

  • Foxconn? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 23, 2017 @06:19PM (#53724657)

    The same company than made the news for automating away 60,000 jobs in a single plant because even though the jobs only paid between $1.60 and $2.20 an hour it was still cheaper to remove the jobs anyways.

    And we are talking about THAT company and creating 50,000 at American wages in an industry that can be so automated away that it is virtually unmanned?

    Get the fuck out of here with that noise.....

    At best you would see them create 50,000 temporary jobs building the plant and setting up the automation as quickly as possible before letting them go and letting this virtually unmanned machine loose and probably getting the tax payers to spread their butts to give them tax cuts like Trump is proposing and did with Carrier.

    But this company actually creating that many permanent jobs at even minimum wage in the US in this market? I have a better chance getting a 3-some with Jessica Alba and Hayden Panettiere.

  • How much does it cost to ship items like phone screens from Japan? It's a tiny amount.

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