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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Foxconn did not build the large LCD manufacturing campus Wisconsin was originally promised. Former project lead Alan Yeung says changing market conditions, Wisconsin’s business environment, political turnover and media coverage helped derail the plan. The state’s economic development agency disputed that a change in governor caused Foxconn to miss its commitments. The clearest measure of what changed is the distance between the 2017 proposal and the agreement revised in 2021.
What Foxconn originally promised Wisconsin
In 2017, Foxconn reached an agreement with Wisconsin under Governor Scott Walker for a display-screen manufacturing project. Local reporting described the proposal as a $10 billion investment and as many as 13,000 jobs, alongside nearly $3 billion in state tax credits tied to the commitments. Local incentives were also part of the broader package. These are historical figures reported in 2022, not current targets or a fresh assessment of the project.
The prominent proposal was a large LCD factory, but the project plan changed before the agreement was amended. In 2018, Foxconn shifted from a proposed Generation 10.5 facility toward a Generation 6 plan. The factory did not arrive as originally described.
How the deal changed
Reporting in 2022 described the amended agreement, reached in 2021, as setting a $672 million investment target and an employment target of about 1,450 jobs. The table compares the original figures with those later reported targets; it does not establish what Foxconn ultimately invested or employed.
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| Measure | 2017 proposal | Amended agreement, reported in 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | $10 billion (TMJ4 and FOX6 reporting) | $672 million (TMJ4 and CBS 58 reporting) |
| Employment | Up to 13,000 jobs (TMJ4, FOX6 and CBS 58 reporting) | About 1,450 jobs (TMJ4 and CBS 58 reporting) |
| State tax credits | Nearly $3 billion tied to the original commitments (TMJ4 reporting) | Not stated in the cited 2022 reporting on revised targets |
The figures were reported by local outlets and attributed statements; the original contract and amendment were not independently reviewed here. They should be read as a comparison of reported historical terms, not as an audited account of actual spending or jobs.
Yeung’s explanation—and the state’s response
Alan Yeung, who led the Wisconsin project for Foxconn, discussed it in a 2022 episode of The Verge’s Decoder podcast while talking about his book, Flying Eagle: How Terry Gou and Foxconn Answered Trump’s Call to Invest and Reshore Manufacturing in America. Yeung’s explanation is his retrospective account, not an independently established finding about why the project changed.
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Yeung points to changing conditions
Yeung emphasized changing market conditions and what he saw as a changed business environment in Wisconsin. He also argued that the shift from Scott Walker to Tony Evers, who defeated Walker in 2018, and hostile media coverage made the effort harder. His account presents those factors as part of the explanation; it does not by itself establish that any one of them caused Foxconn to miss the original commitments.
In a separate interview with FOX6, Yeung said Foxconn’s ideas for investment changed repeatedly. He resisted calling the project a failure, pointing to investments by the company, the local community and the federal government, as well as infrastructure and efforts to build a technology hub. In a 2022 TMJ4 interview, he said: “I think that’s a wrong perspective. It might not have actually worked the way the original plan had been intended. But so far I think with the investment made by the company, the local community in the state, and also the federal government, it is a good thing.” He also said, “I think we’re not going to apologize for trying hard.” Those are Yeung’s judgments about the project’s value, not measurements of whether it delivered the original factory and job plan.
WEDC rejects political turnover as the explanation
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) disputed the claim that the change in administration explained why Foxconn failed to build the originally promised factory or meet its commitments. CBS 58 reported that WEDC said it worked with Foxconn under both administrations and described the 2021 amendment as saving taxpayers $2.77 billion while giving the company flexibility. The $2.77 billion figure is WEDC’s attributed claim as reported by CBS 58, not an independent audit finding.
In WEDC’s words: “Under two administrations, WEDC and Foxconn worked closely to better reflect both sides’ interests, which resulted in an amended contract last year that saves Wisconsin taxpayers $2.77 billion while providing the company with the flexibility it needs to compete in the global market.” The agency’s account and Yeung’s account differ over how much the political change mattered; the available reporting does not settle that causal dispute.
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Why the project is judged differently
The disagreement is partly about what counts as success. Yeung argues that investment and infrastructure have value even when the original plan does not materialize. Critics—and the interviewer in the FOX6 report—center the missing LCD plant and the gap between the original job figure and the later employment target. Those are distinct standards: benefits from related investment do not make the original commitments equivalent to the amended ones.
For readers assessing the public-finance question, the most concrete comparison is the revised agreement’s lower reported targets, alongside the original proposal’s substantial public incentives. The figures show a major change in the deal’s scale; on their own, they do not establish the full cost or benefit to Wisconsin taxpayers. Determining that would require evidence beyond the interviews and local reporting cited here.
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Where to read Yeung’s account
Flying Eagle is Yeung’s firsthand account of Foxconn’s Wisconsin project and its effort to bring manufacturing investment to the United States. It can help readers understand how a former executive explains the company’s decisions, but it should be read as one participant’s perspective rather than a neutral adjudication of the disputed causes or the project’s public return.
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