It was developed when Foxconn committed to investing $10 billion in a display panel manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant per an agreement with the state of Wisconsin.

Environmentalists criticized the deal for exempting the factory from Wisconsin's environmental rules including being granted extensive water rights.

Foxconn finally confirmed an alternative development plan with data center infrastructure and high-performance computing capabilities in November 2020.

The possible construction of a $7 billion factory in the United States that would employ as many as 50,000 people was discussed with reporters by Terry Gou, Foxconn founder and CEO, on January 22, 2017.

He had earlier told Masayoshi Son, head of SoftBank Group Corp., that the U.S. has no panel-making industry but it is the second-largest market for televisions.

[3] President Donald Trump had suggested southeastern Wisconsin to Gou after seeing a vacant industrial site on a helicopter flight with his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, earlier in April.

[5] In November 2017, the Scott Walker administration in Wisconsin approved an agreement with the Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn to build a plant in Racine County.

[6] Foxconn sought to locate a plant in the Great Lakes region, because it needed access to large amounts of water.

[8][9][7] Much of this subsidy would be paid in direct cash payments from taxpayers since Wisconsin already exempts manufacturing companies from paying taxes.

[10][12][13][14][15][16] Wisconsin's nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated that the Foxconn plant investment would not break even until 2043, and that was in the best-case scenario.

[20][7] Walker and the Trump administration rolled back air pollution limits in the area of the plant, overruling objections of Environmental Protection Agency staff.

[4][8][21] The rules regarding limits would have required Foxconn to install more effective pollution-control equipment, scale back production or make emissions-trading agreements with cleaner facilities.

[26] In 2020, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) determined Foxconn would not receive tax credits for work done in 2019, saying it hired only 281 tax-eligible employees, did not carry out the Gen 10.5 LCD project, and only made $300 million in capital expenditures.

[27] The company countered by claiming it hired more than the minimum for tax credits of 520 eligible full-time workers and that it had invested $750 million.

[28] WEDC did not expect Foxconn to fulfill its compliance with the state agreement to qualify for fiscal years 2021 through 2023 according to the budget prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

[35] The company met sufficient job creation and investment benchmarks in 2020 and qualified for the tax credits from the state according to WEDC's determination in December 2021.

[36] The Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park was established to provide a site for the Foxconn campus and factory in Mount Pleasant.

[40] Mount Pleasant and Racine County made substantial upfront investments in infrastructure and land acquisition for the project since 2017.

[46] Officials from the Village of Mount Pleasant and Racine County said Foxconn Technology Group "continues to fulfill all of its financial obligations under the local development agreement and is already the largest taxpayer" in both municipalities according to a February 2021 joint statement.

[63][64][31] Foxconn confirmed the development of data center infrastructure and high-performance computing capabilities in November 2020 in response to unconfirmed reports that key components for Google servers would be assembled here.

[24] While there was initial speculation that cars could be built at the industrial park[70][71] and a site visit by Henrik Fisker,[72] Foxconn purchased the former GM plant in Ohio from electric automaker Lordstown Motors.

[81] The Haymarket Landing, a residence hall with private business space in downtown Eau Claire, was expected to be a place students could work.

[83] As the parcel is within a tax-increment financing district, Microsoft would be eligible to recoup up to $5 million annually on 42% of property taxes paid on new construction.