Foxconn lining up over $10-bn investment across several US states

Foxconn Technology Group chief Terry Gou is pursuing plans for the company's global foray.

The world's largest maker of iPhones is lining up $10 billion or more of investment across several US states, starting with a decision by July on the location for a $7-billion display-making plant. Foxconn's billionaire chairman also vowed to press ahead with a bid for Toshiba Corp's semiconductor business, a deal that could cost $27 billion and mark Foxconn's entry into the memory chip business.

The founder of Foxconn, is now weighing the pros and cons of locating the factory in one of several US states, including Wisconsin. According to Gou, Taiwan's richest man, he had been in dialogue with the White House and various state governors - one of whom called him moments before Thursday's shareholders meeting got underway.

According to commentators, a plant in the Midwest would mark a victory for president Donald Trump and his effort to bring jobs back to US.

''Our investment in the US will focus on these states because they are the heart of the country's manufacturing sector,'' Gou told investors. ''We are bringing the entire industrial chain back to the traditional manufacturing region of the US. That may include display making, semiconductor packaging and cloud-related technologies,'' Gou told reporters later.

Foxconn is looking at six US states including Wisconsin as locations for a display-making plant and will make a decision next month, top executives said today.

"It is one of the six we are considering," Tai Jeng-wu, CEO of Foxconn's Japanese unit Sharp Corp and group vice chairman, told reporters on the sidelines of Foxconn's annual shareholders meeting.

"In July we will make a conclusion," Gou told shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

"This time we go to America, it's not just to build a factory, but to move our entire supply chain there," he told shareholders, without providing specific details.