The Vietnamese government has confirmed Chinese manufacturer Foxconn applied for and received a license to build a $270 million plant in Vietnam.
As Reuters reports, the new plant will be located in the northern province of Bac Giang, developed by Fukang Technology, and will eventually produce eight million laptops and tablets for Foxconn on a yearly basis. It’s also thought that another plant is being planned by the company in the Thanh Hoa province south of Hanoi. It’s a much larger project considering Foxconn is expected to invest $1.3 billion in the initiative.
As to why Foxconn is investing so heavily in Vietnam, last year the company proclaimed China’s “Days as the world’s factor are done.” Citing ongoing tensions between the US and China, and an increasing number of tariffs, Foxconn chairman Liu Young-way explained how capacity was ramping up at locations outside of China. In 2019, 25 percent of the company’s production occurred outside of China, and last year it increased to 30 percent.
As well as the new plant in Bac Giang and the potential for another in Thanh Hoi, Foxconn is expected to invest another $700 million this year and recruit 10,000 more Vietnamese workers for its existing operations in the country. Some iPad and MacBook production is also moving from China to Vietnam this year at the request of Apple.
Meanwhile, the LCD plant Foxconn was expected to build in Wisconsin still hasn’t happened. As The Verge reported back in December, Wisconsin denied Foxconn subsidies because it hadn’t constructed the factory, but Foxconn argued it never promised to build such a factory. The company is willing to amend the contract it has, but for now no LCD plant will be constructed. It’s pretty safe to assume the new Vietnam plant will be finished before anything happens in Wisconsin.
