Foxconn says empty Wisconsin buildings are not empty

Well, here we go again.

Earlier this week, The edge released a lengthy survey of the many "innovation centers" that Foxconn announced in Wisconsin as part of its agreement with President Trump for the construction of an LCD panel manufacturing plant (status unknown) in that State. After spending 10 days in the field, we simply pointed out the obvious: most "innovation centers" are empty, some buildings have never been purchased and no one in Wisconsin really seems to know what's going on .

Today, Foxconn responded to the announcement by announcing the creation of another Wisconsin Innovation Center in Madison, the state capital. The building, which currently houses a bank, is in front of the Capitol Building and will continue to house the bank there, as Foxconn has not announced its move.

Here are some other things Foxconn did not announce: how much he paid for the building, how many floors he would occupy, how many people would work there, or what they would do.

he made to announce that it would change the name of the building "Foxconn Place Madison", however.

Anyway, here's the great quote from Alan Yeung, Foxconn, very helpful in the Wisconsin State Journal about the case:

Yeung assured people at Monona Terrace that the Madison building would not be empty, causing nervous laughter among the crowd.

The announcement comes just days after a newspaper article published by The Verge raised questions about the progress of other "innovation centers" scattered across the state, finding that some centers were blocked or that contracts had been concluded.

Yeung said the article contained "a lot of inaccuracies", that the buildings are not empty and that the company will issue a correction soon. He discouraged people, such as journalists, from "climbing trees" to determine the occupancy of the building.

"We have a plan and we will make sure that the building is adequate and well equipped before bringing in people," he said.

So, first of all, no one climbed a tree to report on Foxconn's innovation centers. Our reporter Josh Dzieza just looked out the window and saw this:

Picture of Joshua Dzieza / The Verge

If this photo is inaccurate and if this building is actually not empty, Foxconn has had many opportunities to tell us because we have repeatedly asked for comments and Foxconn has refused. Foxconn also refused to offer us interviews with anyone. So, if Foxconn wants to tell us what these inaccuracies are, he has our contact information and we are willing to listen to them.

More importantly, Foxconn has always refused to tell anyone in the world what its "promised AI 8K + 5G ecosystem" is, which would be good to know in general, because the state of Wisconsin has already spent Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in infrastructure, drove people out of their homes and allocated up to $ 4.5 billion in tax breaks to build it. So, you know, anytime.

Foxconn has not responded to a request for comment.