Foxconn shifts focus to research

Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contractor for electronics and a major supplier to Apple Inc, raised alarm in Wisconsin, the United States, after announcing it will change the focus of its $10 billion display-making factory there from manufacturing to research.

Louis Woo, a special assistant to Foxconn CEO Terry Gou, told Reuters that the company would not be building liquid crystal display (LCD) panel screens at the factory and, instead, would devote the building to producing high-tech applications and solutions for security, smart cities, education, medical and healthcare, entertainment and sports.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, had promised to create 13,000 jobs when the factory planned for Mount Pleasant, about 48 kilometers south of Milwaukee, was announced in 2017. In January, the company reiterated its intention to hire that many, but that it had slowed its pace of hiring.