YouSaid · the spoken record

Alan Yeung

lines on the record: 69
first: 2022-04-19
most recent: 2022-04-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Not just because change of garnishorship or because the press is always negative or we have a few people who actually decide not to move, but hey, those were the choices. I understand it. I'm empathetic about that. But let's move forward and actually do something positive. And I would just support the verge to do the same. If you find three positive things for me, I'll actually share that with you. If you actually want to confirm on things that are negative, I'll do the same.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, whether they were misled by someone or by some organization, I cannot speak to that unless they go on record and talk to you or maybe speak with me. But I would look back and say it was still a positive experience that's over billion dollars investment from the company, another 600 million plus to come. And if you look at the contract, they're getting less than 5% tax credit. And this company continued to invest here, but they will look elsewhere if you get bad treatment and awful tax credits. And there are other competition out there. So as Wisconsin, I would just urge everybody to take a look forward and say, how can we win the next Intel project? How can we actually make sure people look at what Wisconsin as really good business environment for investment?”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, let me answer to your question as a closing here. I said that before within other media outlet, and I said that there are hundred things that Foxon would do or said they would do. And if you don't aim high, none of these hundred things are actually worth doing. But if in the process of trying your best, putting all your resources and making a commitment to do it, we got two or three things done. The outcome is $185 billion company that's spending around the world and the likes of OEM brand name will work with any day if you're asking.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We tried very hard. We tried very hard. Yeah, you did. You did. Twitter is bad for everybody. I think we can confidently agree on that. I will tell you, can I just, I know you've got to run, but my one gentle pushback to the Press was too negative. I've been doing this a long time. The easiest way to get good press out of the verge is to say you're going to do something and then do it, right? And all of the perceived negativity here is we heard about a lot of things that were going to happen that didn't happen.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think we should try that. We try very hard. We tried very hard. I very much wanted to speak with you on record, but due to the circumstances and some of the political sensitivity, it probably best that I was not able to do that. And you look at what happened to my tweet. It just got way out of hand because people got too excited about it.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I'm not doing them a favor. I'm just telling you there are facts and the data and their information that probably you should have is unfortunate that there's only one side because the other side wouldn't speak for you.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then I can help you over time to actually put some really positive but also fair interpretation on that. And you guys have done well over the years and I congratulate you and I mentioned seeing you quite a few times on CNBC. And I would encourage you to look at things from both sides. And if there's nobody else speak with you, I'll do that the best of my knowledge.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Seen a lot of No, no, the shape, the size, or the scale of that dome, whether it is relevant, appropriate, and optimized for data center, I cannot say. But for some of the pioneering work in the development projects that they are actually working on, FI team believed that was the optimal is the right thing to do. And again, if they would speak with you on record, I think you can get the answer. Other than that, speak to the people who had gone through the tour and see if they can tell you more. But I would not speculate as to whether it's right or wrong, because some of the reports you had got all the facts right.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, well, okay, if you put it that way, the dome whether the architecture is needed, I'll let you go back to FII and ask them that. But I think they want to make a statement for the Foxhorn investment, for the campus there. To go beyond just tin roof and really gray wall there.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If the scale for the data center equipment and some of the work that they would do is pioneering, they probably wouldn't tell you. A lot of that is actually in partnership with some of the biggest name within the data center world. And they may not carry the Foxhorn label when it becomes commercialized. But I can assure you that the dome is needed. But if I ask you and tell you, the dome is needed.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right now, I can't tell you, but the best of my knowledge from back then is that they are data center capability. And once again, I would say it this way. Everything that Foxon did in there on campus inside the dome, those are pioneering work. And I said chairman said, Yang Liu said, we did all this based on business. It's not political. Pioneering and what? So if the scale...”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the 5G tower indoor. Was part of the plan. Whether that happened or not, I can't tell you because part of that was I left the company. If I do know, I probably would not be in a position to tell you you have to go back and ask them if anybody would speak with you. Actually, I do want to say one thing to two of you. I actually am very thankful for your reporting and by and large pretty comprehensive and accurate. The area is that they need to have some correction. I hope you will go back and correct them. Well, that's why I ask you. I would urge you to be looking at a bit more positive and more futuristic and don't be so negative all the time because I think we should look past the politics and I would support that. I will come back and speak for you more.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, that's an example. So now you have a client server model between the vehicle and the road side. So, your vehicle equipment cost will be down to four digit as opposed to six digit. So your sensors, your lighters, your communication before it was 4G, it could become 5G and your lighter and these other sensors.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, the idea is some of that driving or the equipment or the sensing should not reside in the vehicle, right? Sure. If you put the ten thousand dollar lighter back then, it's $50,000 and all the equipment, you basically have a server sitting in the trunk. Of $100,000 vehicle.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because those are the three areas that we would invest and they tie in with each other. Just using 5G and AI is an example and you wrote extensively about my autonomous vehicle project that didn't quite happen. But the UW Madison Engineering team did work with Racine to take it to the next steps. And all the credit goes to them. I interviewed a lot of”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I just want to be clear. The pitch was there would be an AI 8K plus 5G ecosystem. That was the phrase we kept hearing, that this was an ecosystem. You're telling me the 8K part was sharp displays for defense applications, medical applications. Stuff like that. Then the 5G stuff was putting sensors and control units on manufacturing indoors, not the cell radius.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Now AI is actually a tough nut to crack because most of us don't know enough about what artificial intelligence or deep learning or big data would be. And if you look at how do you actually monetize AI, most of that is in autonomous vehicle and other hot area or segment. It is again not within the factory floor. The best example would be GE Digital. And I will talk about it in the next book. GE Digital actually invested 10, 15 years into that business and it took them that long to come up with maybe crossing a billion dollars in revenue.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Advanced and AK, 5G fox on tremendous capability in both Taiwan and elsewhere, and the usage for 5G is both indoor and outdoor. Some of the indoor IoT capability that you can use for logistics, supply chain, warehouse management is a prime example of using 5G indoor even before you go outdoor. And some of that work was being done by the FII team, and I think they have done some good work there. Unfortunately, a lot of the customers”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's in this book. Well, the whole point is this. Fox gone and especially shop. In the year 2016 and 2017 held a commanding lead in terms of AK technology. And I'll actually expand on that in my next book. And our plan was to build more capacity in North America to support the growing business here in the US and also build more capability to support other usage such as medical and all that. And there are some usage, there are some prototypes that we work with, including dual use and defense for heads of displays and maybe even antenna and other usage that require thin film technology. Those are the things that we had talked about and it would go beyond what Foxon usually do as an EMS provider. Whoever brands call shop, and we have capability and we have will and intent and commitment to do that. Now AI would have been a little bit less”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think in the long term, whether FoxGON continues to invest and other companies, including possible the Nix Intel coming in, this site is very, very attractive, is very prime. And if you look at the corridor between Milwaukee and O'Hare and Chicago, this is probably the most exciting site that one would really look at, not just Upper Midwest, but elsewhere as well, including places like Ohio. And people ask me why Ohio won over Wisconsin as a first runner-up. There are multiple factors and some of those already talked about.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The people. The fact prove it, the people who wanted to stay stayed and they are still there. The people who wanted to leave or agree and decided to leave and move on to life and get compensated, they did. I have said before, I'm grateful for their sacrifice, the contribution, and the support. But when you get 10x the price increase from $5,000 to $50,000 an acre and many of them actually became very successful removing themselves there and buying new farms and new homes elsewhere before the current price increases on land and homes. I think they have done very well. For those who decided not to go, we respect that and we continue to support them. But on the other hand, those were their choices.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because it would not be fair to them, but they all got the same package, the same deal, many of those people got fifty thousand dollars per acre, and quite a number of them become millionaires, and they were able to just go across and buy the NAND and have the farm and have more money in the pocket and move on from there. But then if you say, well, it's involuntary, that's not true, because the people who chose not to leave or move. Can stay and they did, and they assumed there”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I appreciate it. And I actually had not got to that point. I will write about that in my following on book, but I did mention a little bit about the sacrifices that people made in make this project happen, at least during 2017 and maybe early on the 2018 that spilled into it. And one of these group of people are the farmers and the residents within that site in Mount Pleasant. I felt we had been fair and we have been about bored in working with the local and the state government in making the project happen. I heard about getting people out of their farms and homes and it really is not like that. You know, people were selling their farm at $5,000 an acre. We made a conscious decision not to buy any of the land, any of the farms in the home before announcement was made.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But invariably I think they got something out of it, they got training, they got the stepping stone and the experiences to move on to other position and other companies. I can point to you at least 30 or 50 people that have actually moved on to great organization, good companies, take great responsibility in doing quite well. Now, I take pride in doing that. Do I wish they had stayed on Foxconn and doing the Flying Eco project? Of course I do. And I wish I would do that too myself, being in the project, working for Fox on, building that Gen 10.5 or Gen 6 fab, but that didn't happen. But why did I leave? Because I believed I can do a lot more outside Foxconn than inside Foxconn and doing a lot faster, including an innovation center, including speaker. To the two of you.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Maybe visioning and making things happen. The outcome with that would be invariably Vauxhall would become a training ground for other companies within the region, within the state, and you're going to lose a lot of talent. And many of them with good intention. And some of them left in good terms. Others might not be. Maybe something that George should have talked to and someone.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I was one of them on both sides, and I have every intention to actually build and help bring manufacturing and innovation and technical and R&D jobs. And I also eventually left the company. But one thing I would point out is that we recruit these people with good intention, meet personally and professionally. We made a good faith effort to actually make things happen, including right now there are a lot of people, hundreds of people over there trying to make something happen there. And some of those they cannot tell you. Now, one of the people I work with and it's a great pleasure, which is Major General Tim Sedalis, when I brought him in and he actually support the project, one thing he said to me was, you know, you have some challenges here, including human resources.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ago, your comments and the narrative would have been very negative. So I would urge you and everybody else to take a longer term horizon and really look at what we're doing and what the companies do. I no longer speak for or work for the company, so I want to make sure you understand that. And I'm not defending the company per se, but I'm just sharing you with facts and just look at what's happening in India, in Vietnam. great things are happening.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no. Well, the company made investment. The company made announcement. And sometimes it depends on certain factors, certainly including the customers in the marketplace, on the timing, the pace of that happening. Based on the market needs, based on the wants and needs of the customer, they can crank it up or it may take a little bit longer. I mean, some of you report talked about it never happened in Vietnam. It never happened in India, $5 billion, so many so many jobs. If you go to Vietnam, you go to India right now, you can see the investment, the tremendous prosperity. Fox On as a company have brought there. And we were very proud to work with Prime Minister Modi to bring the investment to India near Chennai. And I think that project and the site have ways to go. But two years ago, five years.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Actually, work together to actually assure the next investor or company to come to Wisconsin don't get the same kind of feeling or treatment that we did after we signed the deal. I'm not placing any blame to anybody. I want more investment to come. If they don't feel the contract was spare, then they can renegotiate. But I have to keep in mind and actually point out to everybody, and it's in my book that it was a bipartisan effort to pass the legislation to actually approve this deal. And both sides of the aisle supported it and the governor signed it into”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Would you rather accompany invest ten billion dollars in your state or would you rather they invest only one billion dollars? So right now we get the letter. And I ask the same question. If you take that $9 billion and go somewhere else with other governors or countries welcome that with open hand and I'm hearing that Saudi Arabia and UUA is looking to talk to Fox gone to create a $9 billion project in those countries and I'm hearing that the likes of Ohio and other states continue to welcome Fox going to put what amount of investment there. I would hope our politicians, our legislators on both sides to go back to the year 2017 when I was here first time.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Further from there. That is what I can tell you at this point, but you're right. There is no Gen 6 or Jen 10.5 fab, and I think the agreement that they amended last year and actually signed into new contract, notifying the original one, probably put that into a period, no longer a question mark, and you can seal that one for now. There's no Gen 6, no Gen 2.5 fact. So we killed that one. You can call that win-win for both parties, or you can call lose-lose. But I would just pose a question to everybody, including myself, because I'm a resident in Wisconsin now, and I pay taxes, and my son goes to school there and all that good stuff.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's all the people that we heard about. That's a question. Brigo, as a client and a partner of Foxconn allow us to actually mention that we're building the prototype, we're building the first articles for Brigo. We got express approval and agreement from that company to publicize that. The ventilator was in a very, very difficult situation called COVID, and our chairman actually made the phone call to Minneapolis to actually talk to the chairman CEO there to get the project up and running. We don't want to take credit for that. We don't actually think it's something, anything beyond just a corporate citizen would do. But if you come back to whether you build Gen 10.5 or Gen 6, the project was moving along to build a Gen 6 fab. And we would have add more to it if it puts.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Without betraying the confidentiality that products or prototype had been made, but by the time the ventilator was up and running and actually would have been shipped, World would find out they don't really need ventilators. So there are lots of projects of prototypes that the company make and therefore to do may not pan out. By the same token, whether the servers, the PC board, or any communication products are built, they have been built, they have been shipped, but they would not tell you because they are not actually in a position to share some of this information. That's why we would not be able to talk to the Verge or other media outlet unless there's a business reason to do that or unless we have the okay with our partners or client to say so.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, this is great. You have to realize in our line of business and also what we intended to do in Wisconsin is a combination or a mix of both. We did build certain things in there, whether actually it would continue in many cases is not up to the company to disclose publicly because number one, we have no obligation to share whether it launched, it commands, and whether it ended. We did have commitment and obligation to the state of Wisconsin and its people when the contract, but also in terms of spirit of the contract or agreement demands it. So in the case of ventilator, it is a midst of COVID-19. You would not believe how much work and how much goodwill was there to actually Talk to potential partners in Minnesota.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And if you read my book, and some people did, and you did too, is that Fox on and Chairman Gold believe that publicity is not helpful in terms of the customers because they don't want you to share its client confidentiality. And publicity is not helpful in terms of competition because you are actually telegraphing your competitors.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ohio would have been better for Gen 10.5, but once we made a commitment to build the FAB in Wisconsin, it was no looking back. And that's really something that you should get from the first book, and you'll probably get more from the second book. And you keep asking, where's the Gen 6 fab? If you look at some of the investment and some of the sizing of everything, it is actually built for Gen 6 fab, the clean room and everything. But one thing I would caution you, and since you get me here to speak with the two of you and I appreciate that, you cannot make conclusion or inferences without getting the other side story. In other words, it's not like nothing is being built there. They just would choose not to tell you.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Actually, that's not a fact. We actually had told them. We have told the WDC Secretary during the war administration, and we have told his successor, and we have told the governor. But I think the public narrative unfortunately has been one-sided and the company decided not to actually talk about this in the open and not negotiate in the open. I will share a bit more in my next book on that. I understand at some point you have to.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I want to push back on that because according to records that I received, there was over a year period when the Evers administration was asking Foxconn to tell it what it was building, whether it was a Gen 6 or a server manufacturing facility or something else so that they could revise the contract to reflect that. And you, among other Foxconn executives, refused to tell them. So I think the idea that the Walker administration would have welcomed a Gen 6, all the Evers wouldn't have is not after it. Why wouldn't Foxconn tell the Evers administration what it was building?”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, because Ohio is a lot closer to the eastern seaboard in the end use market and the logistics and everything would have worked a lot better and given what we see in hindsight with the business environment Ohio investment climate has only gone better not worse unlike Wisconsin and Wisconsin won the Gen 6 fab and they want the application, they want the ability to work with medical, with dual use and other solutions that a Gen 10.5 would not work so later on when we pivot back to hey let's go back to what you want at Wisconsin the Walk administration actually would have supported that but unfortunately we didn't get there with the next administration”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“American innovation throughout engagement had demonstrated that. And our site selection process went down to the state and the local level and allowed us to gauge who would be the best partners. At the end, we said there were two. Ohio and Wisconsin, Governor Kasich and Governor Walker. That was our conclusion that was one of my points within the book. But when you say Gen 10.5, I would just bring out a very simple but very, very interesting fact that if staff support and staff input were taken into account, the Gen 10.5 Fab would have gone to Ohio.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Now, having the team fly into Japan, not China, is a way to showcase and really impress and communicate with them how big this project was or would have been and how committed the company would be in finding the right partner and the right state of making investment. I put some words and pages behind that and I think I thank you for reading through that already. Foxhorn is 180 plus billion dollar company. And every day if you do the averaging, it's half a billion dollars of products or financial resources or cash moving around the world, half a billion dollars every day. We don't make investment very, very casually and therefore the biggest criterion we had is the commitment of the people we work with. So President Trump and the Office of”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Me come back to you a couple of things. There were no napkins. The one thing that you publish based on open record request is actually what I wrote in the book, which is a piece of paper on stationery from Governor Walker, where both Chairman Gold and Governor Walker sign on to make a commitment to reshore manufacturing. That's a fact. There's no napkin and there's no paper and all that stuff.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And number two, as I mentioned before, we were making investment in Wisconsin without or with credits. The buildings that we purchased in Green Bay, in Auclair, in Madison, and in Milwaukee, and also in downtown Racine, none of that earners tax credits, but earning tax credit was not the primary objective.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Within Milwaukee, but not other places except a bit of racine there. But as I said before, we would try a lot of different ideas. Some of those get reported, others would not. And unfortunately within the media, when everything became negative and that sells a lot more clicks and eyeballs, you report the 96 or 92% of the things that we're trying and didn't happen, but the other two or four or six percent that happened didn't really get picked up there. So that became a little bit more unfortunate. But innovation center is something that we actually feel very proud of. And we made a commitment to do it. And they were supposed to be linked by whiteboard and broadband and really tap into or clear, tap into Green Bay. We did not want to lease building because number one, that didn't show commitment.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because for people to work together and bring up some of the talent, we will rotate engineers and programmers to be on site around our innovation center. And I'll bring that up in my next book. We have a conveyor belt concept, meaning you cannot tap into just Mount Pleasant alone to really build up the talent pool. In fact, if you just go to Milwaukee, it's not feasible either. We were going to use Milwaukee as our radiation point, our headquarters. It would tap into Madison or Claire along with Racine and other places if we can find the site to actually work with maybe innovators, programmers and engineers, partly because it's local, partly because we would have remote work by then. That was actually before COVID. So some of that work actually was supposed to happen and we did make it happen.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Why not just say these things to us? I understand that Foxhan has a policy, but we asked you 5,000 times. And there was just dead silence. And Josh never risked life or limb. I wouldn't let our reporters. He just looked in the window. I mean, this was like, there are still people in Wisconsin going around to these sites and looking in the windows and seeing no one in these fields.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We did have people ourselves and also our partners and clients in many of the buildings, the one that we never actually did anything were the ones in Eau Clair. The brick building was meant to be dormitory and short-term housing when we actually rotate engineers and programs in. You know, the principal who actually was supposed to sell us the project and the property never actually deliver. And he went around and told you, and everybody else, that we didn't fulfill our commitment. Well, he did not fulfill his performance contract with us. We terminated him. But that was unfortunate.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, let me put it that way. We did answer to you, but our straight corporate rules on engagement and communication is that unless we have something substantive to really share either because of the plan or something that we have done, I wouldn't be able to actually say a whole lot. But I have indicated to you and everybody else multiple times there are people working in there. And I did worry about your well-being. I was just talking and joking about climbing trees and all that. And really, we were very fond of you and your reporting because you obviously have a keen interest in the project.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're back with Alan Young. Before the break, Alan had been talking about innovation centers. So, Alan, yes, to revisit the innovation centers, do you announce several of them across Wisconsin? Late 2018, I visited them in 2019 well after they were supposed to be open. There was no one in them. It was just dusty sawhorses and concrete floors. When a reporter that used to said that they were not empty and that a correction would be forthcoming, one never came. And I checked back a month later and then a year later and they continued to be empty and they never opened. And I guess my question is, why did you say they were not empty when they were empty? And why did they remain empty for so long?”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Talent. Now, we've been actually, and I think your press organization has said that too, we've been compared to building innovation center as Potemkin offices or outfits. Anytime you put well over $50 million along with paying some of the upkeep and also the property taxes to either put up Hotempkins or to help an incumbent getting re-elected, we don't do that. We actually work for our shareholders and therefore I would like to clarify that. But I think if there's an appearance that was the case, it really shouldn't be. And it was unfortunate. I would mention in the next book that we actually purposely scaled back the announcement of the Innovation Center for Madison until the following April because it was too close to the action and it's really not fair that we Announce that one a few weeks before November election in 2018.”
2022-04-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · A former Foxconn executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT