Japanese display maker, Sharp Corp, may kick off the building of a $7 billion plant in the United States in the first half of 2017, taking the lead on a project initially outlined by its Taiwanese parent Foxconn, a person with knowledge of the plan said.
A decision by Foxconn to give Sharp the lead would come as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to travel to the United States to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, who in his inauguration speech vowed to put “America first”.
In a package Tokyo hopes will please Trump, Abe will unveil investments to create as many as 700,000 U.S. jobs, people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier.
“The investment will be by a Japanese consortium that will also include manufacturing equipment makers,” said the person, who was not authorized to speak with media and so declined to be identified.
A spokesman for Sharp said no decision on building a plant had been made. Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Terry Gou, the chief executive of Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, last month said he was considering investing around $7 billion to build a display-making plant in the United States, but did not elaborate on any time frame.
Gou said Foxconn, which operates plants in China that make most of Apple Inc’s iPhones, had been considering the plan for years.
He said the issue came up when business partner Masayoshi Son, head of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, talked to Gou before a December meeting Son had with Trump.
Foxconn last year took control of Sharp when it bought two-thirds of the Japanese liquid crystal display pioneer, Reuters reports.
