Nilay Patel, reporting for The Verge: It has never been clear what Foxconn is attempting to do in Wisconsin, and every time the company or one of its executives tries to explain it, things have just gotten weirder. For example, the company has said for years that its empty warehouse in southeastern Wisconsin is the centerpiece of an “AI 8K+5G” strategy, without ever explaining what that means. (Nothing. It means nothing.)
Anyway, throw that mystery out of your brain because AI 8K+5G has been completely scrubbed from Foxconn’s Wisconsin website. Instead, get ready for “3+3=infinity,” which is Foxconn’s new strategy, or Foxconn 3.0, which the company claims follows the famous and beloved Foxconn 1.0 and Foxconn 2.0 strategies that totally made sense and revolutionized the industrial economy of southeastern Wisconsin. Sorry! That never happened. Anyway, Foxconn’s website actually labels the new plan “3+3 Transformation” and says it’s a combination of “Electric Vehicle,” “Digital Health,” and “Fii Robotics” with “5G Solutions,” “Semiconductors,” and “Industrial AI,” which, you see, is a list of three industries and another list of three technologies. (Fii, you will recall, is the company Foxconn created to oversee the Wisconsin project, which then created many levels of additional chaos.) How will 3+3=infinity create jobs in Wisconsin? It remains to be seen! Further reading:
Wisconsin’s $4.1 Billion Foxconn Boondoggle (2018)
Why Won’t Foxconn Tell Wisconsin What It’s Building? (2019)
Wisconsin Report Confirms Foxconn’s So-Called LCD Factory Isn’t Real (2020)
Foxconn Mostly Abandons $10 Billion Wisconsin Project (2021)
Foxconn Factory Fiasco Could Leave Wisonsinites On the Hook For $300 Million (May, 2022).
