Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park
Groundbreaking with Governor Walker, President Trump, Foxconn CEO Gou and House Speaker Paul Ryan | |
Interactive map of Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park | |
| Location | Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, US |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°40′35″N 87°56′20″W / 42.67639°N 87.93889°W |
| Groundbreaking | June 28, 2018 |
| Companies | |
| Developer | Foxconn |
| Planner | Hammes Company |
| Proposed | April 2017 |
The Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park is a technology manufacturing complex located in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, US. It originated with an agreement between Foxconn and the state of Wisconsin for the company to invest $10 billion in a display panel manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant. The initial announcement claimed that the site would employ up to 13,000 workers and that the company in return would receive $3 billion in subsidies. The factory was to start production by the end of 2020. State and local governments made substantial infrastructure improvements.
The plant was heavily touted by Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in Wisconsin. President Donald Trump praised the plant at the groundbreaking ceremony. Numerous economists expressed skepticism that the benefits to Wisconsin would exceed the costs of the deal for Wisconsin's taxpayers. The amount would have been by far the largest US tax incentive deal ever given to a foreign firm. Environmentalists criticized the deal for exempting the factory from Wisconsin's environmental rules, including being granted extensive water rights. Clearing the site involved the acquisition and demolition of houses through eminent domain.
Each year up until 2020, the state denied the project's tax subsidies since the project goals were not being met. Foxconn finally confirmed an alternative development plan with data center infrastructure and high-performance computing capabilities in November 2020. By January 2021, three structures had been built, a 120,000-square-foot storage facility (11,000 m2), a 1 million-square-foot building (93,000 m2) (intended for manufacturing but repurposed for storage), and a globe-shaped structure which will house a network operations center. In March 2021, they began making servers and other 5G networking gear for a handful of clients. Under a new agreement announced in April 2021, Foxconn reduced its planned investment to $672 million with 1,454 new jobs. Tax credits available to the project were reduced to $8 million.
In April 2023, Microsoft began purchasing sites within the project and began building a data center campus.