Global electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn has voiced its support for California Forever’s Solano Foundry and has expressed interest in bringing a facility to the area.
The controversial company employs more than 800,000 employees worldwide, but its plants in China have long been subject to allegations of workers’ rights violations. The company saw 18 worker suicide attempts at one plant in 2010 alone.
But worker rights at Foxconn have seen some improvements since 2010, largely due to intense international pressure following the suicides and subsequent labor unrest. However, reports from labor watchdogs indicate that these gains have been inconsistent and, in many cases, have failed to create a genuinely safe and equitable work environment. Many fundamental issues — particularly excessive hours, low pay and limits on freedom of association — persist.
A letter supporting the foundry from Ted Dubbs, a senior vice president at Foxconn, was obtained by The Reporter. The letter was attached to an email from JLL Vice Chairman Greg Matter to Suisun City City Manager Bret Prebula and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development Dee Dee Myers, asking them to explore an expedited pathway to capture a “wave of investments” in manufacturing.
“The features and benefits within the Solano Foundry are very attractive and would provide a more competitive environment for Foxconn to expand its manufacturing footprint in California,” Dubbs’ letter reads. “We see the Solano Foundry as a unique opportunity to bring advanced manufacturing facilities to Northern California.”
Matter’s email notes that site selections for manufacturers the size of Foxconn can take up to 24 months.
“This means that if we had, in the next few months, a predictable path where companies can reasonably rely on being able to break ground within 12-18 months, we believe that the Solano Foundry would be one of the major choices for at least a quarter of national demand, i.e. over 7 million square feet of space and approximately 9,000 jobs,” Matter’s email reads.
Another attached letter, penned by Matter and JLL CEO of Leasing Advisory John Gates, notes that JLL Industrial oversaw $23 billion in transactions in 2023 while managing 552 million square feet of industrial buildings.
“Most of the companies that engage with us want to remain in California, but they need to find locations that are attractive, that include the entire ecosystem around manufacturing, including workforce housing, and where they can break ground in the next 12-18 months and begin production in 2027 or 2028, while ideally having the room to grow in pace for many decades,” the letter reads.
Dubbs’ letter specifically calls for a pathway to approval for the project from the California legislature.
“California has already demonstrated an ability to permit high-priority projects on accelerated timelines, and we hope our legislators join us in seeing the Solano Foundry as worthy of the same attention,” the letter reads. “We offer whatever assistance you might require to help bring about this worthwhile project, and bring about its success.”
Foxconn has other manufacturing facilities in the United States, and according to the letter, has sites in Sunnyvale and San Jose, but more recent domestic attempts by the manufacturer have fallen flat after considerable fanfare.
In Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, according to NBC Chicago, Foxconn announced a plant in 2018 alongside President Donald Trump, who proclaimed it to be the “eighth wonder of the world.” The company induced state and local governments to spend $1.2 billion on infrastructure upgrades for the facility, and promised that they would hire 13,000 locals to manufacture high-definition televisions. Just a few years later, the company had all but abandoned the facility, turning it into a storage facility with only about 1,200 jobs.
The NBC Chicago report also notes that Foxconn has backed off on promises to build plants in Indiana and Pennsylvania. Ultimately, the report explains, the city of Mount Pleasant itself spent more than $100 million to entice and accommodate the company. The city may not recoup its losses for decades, and many residents are bound by non-disclosure agreements after a series of lawsuits.
In an interview with The Reporter on Monday, Prebula expressed excitement about the potential for Foxconn to come to Suisun City through the proposed annexation, which he described as “jobs-led.” He said any advanced manufacturing in Solano County involving Foxconn would be “pretty amazing,” but could not be held up by red tape.
The city manager said he thought it was possible to conduct a full review, including an EIR, detailed analysis and LAFCO review, within the 18-20 month timeline called for in the JLL letter.
“Elon Musk went to space in that timeline with SpaceX,” Prebula said.
Asked about the worker suicides and Foxconn’s workers’ rights record, Prebula said that local and state officials will need to regulate the company to ensure good working conditions.
“If you look at the history of corporations for around the last 20 years, I would say that many of them have, in the name of profits, done some not very good things,” he said. “Any major global company can have some issues; it’s part of any business evolution. What matters is what you do with it when you find out and how you carry those improvements forward. Our country’s creation and evolution is a perfect analogy of this, but how great it would be to have the ability to ensure good labor standards in California? We cannot let red tape stop the opportunity; Our state labor standards will handle any other concerns.”
California Forever did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Reporter ahead of this article’s deadline.
North Bay Business Journal contributed more historical perspective on Foxconn to this report.