Missy Hughes on Foxconn, Microsoft and Wisconsin Tech Jobs

Frederica Freyberg:

In other news, Microsoft has finalized the purchase of more than 100,000 acres of land in Racine County, with 600 acres purchased from the village of Mount Pleasant this week. The tech giant says it plans to spend billions of dollars to construct new data centers. This as the neighboring Foxconn Technology Group is set to receive $6.3 million in business tax credits for hiring 1,000 fulltime workers and investments made in 2022. The group has received roughly $44 million from the state since 2020, a significantly scaled back sum from the original negotiated tax incentives after Foxconn’s promise of 13,000 jobs and an LCD screen factory never came to fruition. Still, the company says it is committed to Wisconsin. For more on all of this, we turn to the CEO and secretary of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Missy Hughes. Secretary Hughes, thanks very much for being here.

Missy Hughes:

So glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

So Foxconn has now qualified for a third round of state tax credits, bringing the total amount that it has received from the state to nearly $44 million. Do you understand the long-range prospects for Foxconn after not living up to its original promise?

Missy Hughes:

Well, Foxconn has really become like one of the great companies that we have in Wisconsin: Milwaukee Took, Kwik Trip. All of these companies that are locating here and really settling in. So with over a thousand employees and almost $600 million in investment, we expect that Foxconn is here for the long term and will continue to produce and employ folks down in southeast Wisconsin in a really productive way.

Frederica Freyberg:

What lessons learned from Foxconn is WEDC employing with other companies when it comes to tax credits?

Missy Hughes:

Well, it’s really important to work with the company to understand their long-term goals, to set them up for success. So our tax credit programs are based on performance. Companies don’t receive a tax credit until they perform, create the jobs, spend the capex. And so as we work with Foxconn the same way we work with other companies, we want them to be successful, and within the parameters of what they expect for their strategy.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, WEDC this month had to respond to a state audit in which four of the recommendations involved closer tracking of tax credits that have been awarded or need to have been revoked. Should we have confidence in WEDC in the disbursement of taxpayers’ money toward attracting businesses?

Missy Hughes:

We have really, over the years, tightened up how we verify companies and their performance around tax credits. It’s critically important that the companies provide us their payroll information and their information about capex. We continue to work with the Legislative Audit Bureau to find ways to improve and none of the findings of the LAB were around mismanagement. They were just really about how can we continue to do things better?

Frederica Freyberg:

So meanwhile, big news with Microsoft’s purchase of 1,100 acres of land that was originally designed for Foxconn, with Microsoft planning to build at least four data centers and expansion of its previously announced project investing a billion dollars into a single data center. How big of a boost is this Microsoft deal?

Missy Hughes:

Well, having a company like Microsoft, a blue chip, a true-blue chip American company decide to create such an opportunity in Wisconsin is incredibly important and really exciting. It brings in high tech, artificial intelligence. All of these things that we see in the economy of the future and so Microsoft choosing Wisconsin is really a testament to what we’ve done to create the workforce that they need, to create the infrastructure that they need, and we’re so excited to have them here.

Frederica Freyberg:

I understand that their data centers are expected to employ hundreds of tech people, but potentially thousands of construction workers. What do you know about whether or not those are expected to be Wisconsin workers?

Missy Hughes:

Well, what we’ve already seen is Microsoft has started their work on a $500 million data center. They are working with a number of Wisconsin companies, and, of course, down there on the border of Illinois, we will see some Illinois companies experiencing opportunities with Microsoft, but we know that Microsoft wants Wisconsin to succeed. Brad Smith talked about this long-term relationship that we are creating and so it’s important to Microsoft. They’ve already started working with UW-Milwaukee, with Gateway Tech, so we know that they’re committed to Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

I don’t have to tell you that Wisconsin has seen a lot of attention in the world of economic development this year, including being awarded as a regional technology hub with the ability to apply for up to $70 million in federal funding. What will this mean for the state?

Missy Hughes:

This is one of the most exciting things that’s happened this year. This is a designation by the federal government. There are 31 around the country, but what’s exciting about Wisconsin’s is it is really based on biohealth, and we see between Milwaukee and Madison real opportunities for companies to work together and create this amazing corridor around personalized medicine. Really determining how you can help someone with the exact treatment they need at the exact time that they need it, and we see opportunities around advanced manufacturing with that, research, and entrepreneurism. So all of these things will come together as part of this regional tech hub. We’ll see benefits extending up to Green Bay and Eau Claire, so it’s really an all-Wisconsin effort.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Secretary Missy Hughes, thanks very much.

Missy Hughes:

Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:

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