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Apple Supplier Foxconn In Talks To Build $9 Billion Factory In Saudi Arabia (wsj.com) 48

Posted by BeauHD from the diversified-manufacturing dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: Foxconn, the biggest assembler of Apple iPhones, is in talks with Saudi Arabia about jointly building a $9 billion multipurpose facility (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) that could make microchips, electric-vehicle components and other electronics like displays, according to people familiar with the matter. The Saudi government is reviewing an offer from the company, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., to build a dual-line foundry for surface-mount technology and wafer fabrication in Neom, a tech-focused city-state the kingdom is developing in the desert, the people said. Discussions over the project started last year, they said. The Saudis are conducting due diligence and benchmarking the offer against others that Foxconn has made for similar projects globally, one of the people said. Besides Saudi Arabia, Foxconn is also talking with the United Arab Emirates about potentially siting the project there, one of the people said.

The Taiwan-based company has looked to diversify its manufacturing sites amid rising tensions between China and the U.S. that put it in a potentially vulnerable spot. Riyadh wants the company to guarantee that it would direct at least two-thirds of the foundry's production into Foxconn's existing supply chain, one of the people said, to ensure there are buyers for its products and the project is ultimately profitable. Foxconn is seeking large incentives including financing, tax holidays and subsidies for power and water in exchange for helping set up a high-tech manufacturing sector in the kingdom, the people said, as Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy away from oil. The Saudis could offer direct equity co-investment, industrial development loans, low-interest debt from local banks and export credits to compete with other jurisdictions that Foxconn might consider, said another person familiar with the talks.
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Apple Supplier Foxconn In Talks To Build $9 Billion Factory In Saudi Arabia More

Apple Supplier Foxconn In Talks To Build $9 Billion Factory In Saudi Arabia

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  • Good Luck With That (Score:3)

    by WankerWeasel ( 875277 ) on Monday March 14, 2022 @05:51PM (#62357861)
    Worked out really well for Wisconsin.... It was going to be $10 billion, and they dropped it to $672 million after getting all kinds of funding and other benefits and investments from the government. Just 1,454 jobs from the original 13,000 (and most of those are just temporary construction jobs).
    • I was in here to say just that.
    • That's a bit of an urban legend, in that Foxconn never received most of the government benefits because (the true part) they never hit the milestones. From 3 months ago:

      Foxconn Technology Group has qualified for nearly $30 million in Wisconsin tax credits, marking the first time the electronics giant has secured state aid since breaking ground on its facility in the state in 2018.

      The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation on Wednesday verified that Foxconn had met job creation and investment benchmar

  • The difference between this one and the one Donald Dumbass Trump claimed to have struck a deal for is that this one in Saudi Arabia will actually be built.

    In the end Wisconsin got to fuck over the taxpayers for millions of dollars and in return got nothing but some empty, half-finished buildings.

    Another fabulous failure for Trump....as usual.

    • Failure? No, it was a win for him, his cronies, and people he owed favors to. The mistake you (and his supporters) make is thinking he gives a shit about anything but himself. He is quite successful at enriching himself at the expense of everyone else.

    • The difference between this one and the one Donald Dumbass Trump claimed to have struck a deal for is that this one in Saudi Arabia will actually be built.

      And you say this because...

      Why do you believe this press release is somehow more binding than other press releases issued by Foxconn?

      And, about that Foxconn plant in Wisconsin, the state only granted $8M in tax subsidies snd got nearly 1,500 new jobs at a plant building servers and 5G equipment.

      I think $8M for 1,500 new jobs is an OK deal - that's $5,333/new job, spread out over a number of years.

      Any idea how much each Foxconn employee pays annually in state income taxes? (The subsidies discount the employe

      • Was it worth kicking hundreds of people off their property to create those 1500 jobs? Or diverting scores of millions of taxpayer dollars from needed infrastructure elsewhere in the state to building roads-to-nowhere in the vicinity of the site? Or opening TIF districts to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars so that the risks associated with funding private activities could be shifted onto local municipalities for years to come?

        • Pay no attention to details, they only want you to take a quick look and agree with them, it's all smoke and mirrors.

      • And, about that Foxconn plant in Wisconsin, the state only granted $8M in tax subsidies snd got nearly 1,500 new jobs at a plant building servers and 5G equipment.

        Except for the part where that never actually happened.

        And I don't think $5,333 for a job is good, but maybe you live in a place where that's a lot of money.

        • That $6K was the COST of creating each job, and no, I don't live in a place where tgat is a lot of money.

          The gov't pitched in $8M to create over 5,000 jobs - that's million, not billion, not trillion.

    • MBS wants and can afford Tech. 9B modest. They will be targeting high automation not low pay skill work. Foxconn needs diversity in its production locations. WI fiasco still haunts but Foxconn a shrewd shopper and if economics unfavorable they will bail on Saudi deal too. Terry Guida Foxconn cozy with Son and the vision fund so probably some influence to get it proposal on their consideration list at least.
  • Stop propping up the tyrannical, theocratic Saudi Arabia.
    • These guys obviously thrive in these environments, says a lot about their business model and ethics. I will not buy anything manufactured in Saudi Arabia, that backwards authoritarian shit has no place in 2022, send them back to the stone ages they desire so much.
  • Was it desert, and manufacturing needed a large supply of fresh water. Unless foxconn has perfected alchemy then this isn't going to end well for anyone. It's either a scam or they're going to divert large amounts of drinking water to manufacturing.

    • The water most likely gets recycled, probably in a closed circle.
      Like everywhere else on the words ... except China and the US ofc course.

  • This is not about employing Saudi citizens.
    In Saudi Arabia (worked there, 1990s), Saudis don't really do anything but put up with the crown and the wacko mullahs and suck up the dole that the crown provides to insure indolence.
    At the top end, all of the work is (was) done by contractors from the US and the UK.
    At the bottom end, they ship in and work to death unskilled souls from whatever country people are fleeing at the moment. There are no labor laws for non-Saudi citizens.
    Even as a high-demand s
    • Would it eve be possible using local employees? I get that Saudi Arabia wants and needs to diversify its economy, but other than cheap fossil power what do they have to offer?

  • Run from one authoritarian despot government into the embracing arms of another.

    Why not spend that money to build a fab somewhere less likely to risk war, strife, or sanction?

  • Not sure KSA really wants the level of cutthroat, low-wage employment that manufacturing brings. Or the UAE, for that matter. FoxConn should probably be looking at India or another middle-income nation with relatively high unemployment. That would be a win-win.

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