Wisconsin lawmakers and business leaders were gifted a reason to smile on Wednesday. Foxconn Technology Group announced plans to bring 13,000 jobs and invest $10 billion over the next two to three years in southeastern Wisconsin.
The company will build a facility that manufactures LCD screens for everything from self-driving cars to aircraft systems. After the announcement in Washington D.C. with President Trump, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and Governor Walker on hand, Walker called the decision a quote “once in a century opportunity for the state and the country.”
“Now, Foxconn’s manufacturing campus will be a combination of a variety of buildings in total, get this number, totaling 20 million square feet. Now think about that. That would be three times the size of the U.S. Pentagon or for those of us who are Packer fans, that’s big enough to put 11 Lambeau Fields inside of that space,” Walker says.
Walker has named the proposed development “Wisconn Valley.” He says the project will have the type of transformational effect on Wisconsin that “Silicon Valley” has had on the San Franciso bay area. The deal has been in the works since late April. For Wisconsin’s part, the governor says the state will invest $3 billion in economic incentives.