Electronics maker to put first US facility in KY with $173M investment, 180 jobs
A Taiwanese manufacturing company is opening its first U.S. operation in Kentucky.
Foxconn Technology USA Corp. is set to invest $173 million in a Louisville facility that will employ 180 people. The company specializes in making components and fully assembled products for consumer electronics and other industries.
Part of technology services provider Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn bills itself as the world’s largest contract manufacturer, supplying Apple, Sony, Google and other tech giants with parts for iPhones, game consoles and recently expanding its work to assemble and design parts for artificial intelligence servers and electric vehicles.
Foxconn has yet to specify what it will make at the Louisville facility.
The investment is at least the company’s second attempt at adding a U.S. facility to its portfolio after a multi-billion-dollar investment in Wisconsin supported by state incentives and that promised to employ 13,000 didn’t pan out.
The company’s forthcoming Jefferson County facility, according to a news release from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s office, will include a production system that uses artificial intelligence, computing technologies and other digitally driven operations.
The 180 employees will make $38.16 per hour, according to the company’s ask for incentive aid from the state submitted earlier this year in June.
Based on Foxconn’s capital investment along with its wage rate, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved a 10-year incentive agreement for $3.4 million in addition to $600,000 in tax incentives through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act.
The Louisville facility is expected to become operational in the third quarter of 2026.
Foxconn CEO Ben Liaw said in the release the United States has long been an important business partner for businesses based in Taiwan, “providing invaluable support not only in technological innovation and transfer and capital investment, but also in opening broad market channels for Taiwanese enterprises, bringing long-term stable economic growth to Taiwan.”
Liaw said members of Foxconn’s management team have studied in the U.S. or spent time working in the states and that experience has provided the company with professional development and determining how to add more locations of its operation.
“The decision to establish manufacturing facilities and factories in the United States demonstrates our commitment to continuing bilateral, friendly relations and reflects our focus on long-term talent development and AI manufacturing technology advancement opportunities,” Liaw said. “We aim to create a mutually beneficial win-win situation and establish a solid foundation for sustainable growth.”
In the release, Beshear said Foxconn’s investment builds on a record five-year period for economic growth in the state that has included 1,200 private-sector, new-location and expansion projects totaling $43 billion and creating more than 65,500 jobs.
“Kentucky’s long, successful history of working with international companies has led to billions in economic investment and countless job opportunities over the years,” Beshear said. “I want to thank FTC USA’s leadership for trusting in Kentucky to locate their first operation in the United States and for creating 180 new opportunities for our people.”
Trevor Pawl, CEO of the Louisville Economic Development Alliance said the city is already prepared to lead in AI and automation spaces and that the Foxconn investment is, “a win for our workers, our economy and the future of American industry.”
The nonprofit economic development entity secured additional incentives for the Foxconn project, including an occupational tax contribution of up to 1% on the project’s new wages.
“Louisville continues to show the world that we’re America’s leader when it comes to the future of manufacturing,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. “This announcement is the result of strong collaboration across state and local partners. We’re proud to welcome FTC USA to Louisville and know this company will bring good-paying jobs to our community and opportunities for future growth.”
In 2018, Foxconn planned to build a $10 billion sprawling manufacturing plant in Wisconsin and promised to hire more than 13,000 local people who would build TV screens.
More than $1 billion of public money to build infrastructure that would connect the plant to roads, water, sewer and electric systems was spent to support the project, according to an NBC station in Chicago. More money in the form of subsidies was initially promised by state officials for the foreign firm’s project.
At the time, President Donald Trump dubbed the project “the eighth wonder of the world” and local officials believed it to be the beginning of a technological renaissance of an area they’d nicknamed “Wis-con Valley.”
But fairly quickly after the public money was committed, Foxconn gradually reduced its plan, scaling back on the number of available jobs and changing the kind of product it would make at the facility.
When the firm didn’t meet project goals, the state denied the project’s tax incentive agreements. At the end of 2020, Foxconn confirmed it would move forward with a plan to build data center infrastructure at the site totaling $672 million and employing roughly 1,450. In 2023, Microsoft began purchasing pieces of the site.
Prior to an attempt to expand into the U.S., Foxconn installed extensive safety nets on some of its buildings in China in 2010 following a public series of employee suicides that were linked to poor working conditions.
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