Alan Yeung is holding out hope for the would-be LCD plant in Racine County that has yet to see the light of day.
While the proposed $10 billion project that promised a workforce of over 13,000 never materialized, Yeung, a former Foxconn executive who served as one of the negotiators for the project, argued it can’t be viewed as a failure and only fell short of projections because of circumstances no one could have foreseen.
“Truth be told, business conditions changed, but also the business environment changed in Wisconsin dramatically, too,” he told Fox 6 Milwaukee. “I hoped it would be better, and I am optimistic it will be better.”
Even under then-Gov. Scott Walker the project was scaled back in 2017 after Foxconn originally signed a contract with the state to earn nearly $4 billion in state and local tax incentives for a $10 billion display screen manufacturing campus and plant that would employ up to 13,000 people, Fox 6 said. Once Walker lost his reelection bid to current democratic Gov. Tony Evers the plan was completely scrapped.
Yeung recounted his experiences in a new book titled “Flying Eagle: How Terry Gou and Foxconn Answered Trump’s Call to Invest and Reshore Manufacturing in America.” He insisted he wrote the book as part of an effort to highlight who he sees as the unsung heroes of the project that included federal, state and local lawmakers and area business leaders, Fox 6 said.
“Well, I don’t think this is a failure, Yeung said. “Anytime the company invests over a billion dollars, and I believe there is another $600 million to go, and the state and local government co-invest with the company, not to mention we have federal funding in (U.S. Department of Transportation) in infrastructure improvement. Every time I drive on Interstate 94 going from Milwaukee to the state line, I feel very proud it became an eight-lane highway. I felt many of us worked together to make it happen.”
