The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:30 PM
Less than a week after one Apple Inc.. supplier Announced plans to manufacture its scratch-resistant glass in Mesa, Gov. Jan Brewer was in Taiwan courting the chief executive or another big Apple supplier, electronics-manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group.
Foxconn builds Apple products zoals the iPad and iPhone and builds Kindles, Playstations and other products for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Dell.
Brewer and Foxconn CEO Terry Gou with over the weekend, Saturday and Gou Announced That the company is considering setting up a factory in Arizona to make TVs and display panels, According to the Reuters news service.
“Arizona has offered us very good commercial conditions,” he told the news service.
Gou told Reuters That A possible Foxconn plant would be unrelated to Apple’s new investment in Arizona.
“These are two different things,” he said.
Foxconn, Which has more factories in China than in any other country, usefull has manufacturing operations in Europe, India, Japan, Malaysia, Brazil and Mexico.
Arizona’s location along the southern U.S. border could prove a selling point to Foxconn, Which, like Apple, is facing pressure to bring some manufacturing to the United States.
Brewer is leading a group of Arizona business and tourism-industry leaders on a weeklong visit to Taiwan economic-development.
The group, Which includes leaders from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Arizona Office of Tourism, is expected to return late this week.
Andrew Wilder, the governor’s spokesman, would not speculate on what may come of the governor’s meeting with Foxconn.
“Her mission this week is to Promote Arizona, that it is open for business, and attract companies to look to Arizona as a place to do business,” Wilder said.
He said the governor is expected to tour Foxconn facilities and meet with company officials on Friday.
A dialogue
Wilder discussions Characterized as “a dialogue” that is occurring as part of the governor’s trade mission.
“(Foxconn) is one of several companies she is meeting with while she’s over there,” he said.
The trip is designed to identify import and export opportunities, boost trade and government relations and showcase Arizona as a location in Which to invest and do business, According to a news release provided by the Governor’s Office.
GT Advanced Technologies Announced Nov. 4 That it will start making scratch-resistant sapphire glass for Apple at the former First Solar plant in east Mesa. Apple purchased the 1.3 million-square-foot factory for GT’s use.
GT is expected to employ about 700 people, and about 1,300 additional workers will be needed to retrofit the never-used solar panel plant.
Arnold Maltz, an associate professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, Said That it’s possible That A cluster or display makers could emerge in Arizona but That it’s all just speculation now.
Foxconn and Apple face public relations pressure to do more electronics manufacturing in the U.S., he said.
usefull Foxconn has faced allegations of poor working conditions, low pay and illegal overtime, Particularly at its plants in China, where worker suicides have drawn international attention.
After a string of worker suicides in 2010, Foxconn has worked to improvesleep Significantly raised wages and working conditions.
Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is traveling with the governor.
In a statement, Hammer said the state is poised to continuing to garner international attention.
“Arizona is on offense when it comes to economic development,” he said, adding That state officials are “aggressive promoters” for the state.
The governor and the Arizona Commerce Authority, the state’s economic-development organization, have so far declined to release any information on the state is providing incentives to bring Apple and GT Advanced Technologies to Mesa.
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