Before Wisconsin, Foxconn Vowed Big Spending in Brazil. Few Jobs Have Come.
“The area where Foxconn said it would build a plant is totally abandoned,” said Guilherme
Gazzola, the mayor of Itu, one of the cities that hoped to benefit from the project.
At a news conference in Brazil, Foxconn officials unveiled plans to invest billions of dollars
and build one of the world’s biggest manufacturing hubs in the state of São Paulo.
In 2013, the company, which has a small office in Harrisburg, said it intended
to build a $30 million factory in the state that could employ 500 workers.
Mr. Gou made pledges; won tax breaks and government concessions;
and announced plans to spend billions of dollars to create tens of thousands of jobs in multiple countries.
With regard to the Wisconsin project, Foxconn has said it plans to build one of the
world’s largest manufacturing campuses in the southeastern part of the state.
“We do not believe Pennsylvania is out of the running for any particular project,” David Smith, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development in Harrisburg, said about Foxconn’s commitment in the state.