Foxconn Pivots from EVs to AI: Sells Lordstown Factory for $375 Million

Foxconn sells former GM factory to mystery buyer after failing to make EVs | TechCrunch

Foxconn has sold the former GM factory it has owned for three years after failing to stand up any meaningful, large-scale electric vehicle production there. The pivot marks the second major failure of Foxconn to deliver on its promises to help revive U.S. manufacturing. The iPhone-maker once promised to build a giant LCD factory in Wisconsin -- a project that Donald Trump called the "eighth wonder of the world" during his first term -- and wound up underdelivering to an extreme degree. Foxconn says the buyer is an "existing business partner" named "Crescent Dune LLC," an entity that was created in Delaware just 12 days ago, according to records filed with the state. Matt Dewine, a spokesperson for Foxconn, declined to say more about the buyer. Foxconn sold the factory and land for around $88 million and machinery and equipment from its EV subsidiaries for around $287 million, Taiwan stock exchange filings show. A Foxconn representative told Automotive News the company will remain "involved in the manufacturing of products for customers at the Lordstown facility" and claimed it is "committed to customers and suppliers" in the automotive industry. But The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Foxconn now plans to build AI servers at the factory. Dewine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Foxconn announced the deal to buy the former GM plant in 2021 for $230 million, when it was still owned by EV startup Lordstown Motors. At the time, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said it was going to be the "most important electric vehicle manufacturing and R&D hub in North America." While Foxconn was developing EVs of its own in Asia, it was also focused on contract manufacturing in the United States. And, in short order, three of the electric vehicle companies Foxconn hoped would occupy the factory went bankrupt. Foxconn actually built a few EVs at the factory for the now-defunct Lordstown Motors. But the Taiwanese electronics giant wound up in a bitter fight with that troubled EV startup. Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy in June 2023, and accused Foxconn -- which had become an investor in the startup -- of "starving it of cash," and said it "maliciously and in bad faith destroyed that business." Foxconn also took a flier on a small EV startup called IndiEV, claiming it would build its electric SUV at the Ohio factory. IndiEV filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 with less than $3 million in the bank. Foxconn was supposed to build EVs for Fisker Inc as well. Fisker filed for bankruptcy in June 2024. A fourth company, Monarch Tractor, has not had much of an impact, with Foxconn making no more than a few hundred electric tractors. Monarch's CEO, Praveen Penmesta, did not respond to an emailed request for comment about whether its tractors will continue to be built in Ohio.

Foxconn converting US EV plant into AI server factory

Cites low demand and overcapacity for electric cars on the same day Tesla gives Elon Musk $29 billion for similar reasons Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant Foxconn has sold its US electric vehicle factory and will use the land to make AI servers instead. A Monday filing revealed the sale of the facility in Lordstown, Ohio, which Foxconn acquired from startup Lordstown Motors in 2022, and that the company will continue to operate on the site and pursue other activities. According to Japanese outlet Nikkei, Foxconn sold the plant as it feels the North American electric vehicle market is soft as production capacity exceeds demand, and the company wants to improve its ability to manufacture AI servers in the USA. The Wall Street Journal also reported the shift to server production at the Ohio site. News of the sale came just days after the July 30 announcement that Foxconn entered a strategic alliance with Taiwanese company TECO Electric & Machinery designed to help the two companies pursue AI datacenter business worldwide. TECO makes energy infrastructure needed to build datacenters, and Foxconn makes ... well ... almost anything its customers want, which is often servers and other datacenter hardware. Foxconn has already committed to expand its US presence so it can make AI hardware for Apple and other local customers. Flipping the Lordstown plant from EVs to AI therefore advances the Taiwanese company's AI ambitions. But the company has also promised to build an electric vehicle reference platform so it can win work from automakers. The future of that plan is now unclear. But Foxconn has form walking away from big plans, as happened when it failed to deliver on a promise to build a giant LCD display manufacturing plant in Wisconsin. LCD displays aren't a hot market today. Foxconn's change is, however, very much aligned with Trump administration policies that encourage foreign companies moving production to the USA and ended tax credits for buying electric vehicles. The administration also recently announced a laissez faire AI policy designed to spark datacenter construction. Also on Monday, EV-maker Tesla's board announced the interim award of 96 million shares to CEO Elon Musk. At the time of writing, those shares were worth about $29 billion. In a letter to shareholders the Board justified the award because "Retaining Elon is more important than ever before" as the company shifts from being "a leader in the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries to grow towards becoming a leader in AI, robotics and related services." Maybe that shift will mean Tesla also buys AI servers from Foxconn, or has the Taiwanese company make its robots. ®

Foxconn agrees $375 mln Lordstown plant sale to pivot towards data centres

TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), opens new tab said on Monday it had struck a deal to sell a former car factory at Lordstown, Ohio, for $375 million, including its machinery, but said it would continue to use the site to make a broader range of products aligned with its strategic priorities. Foxconn, which makes data center products for Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and assembles iPhones for Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, did not elaborate on products to be manufactured at the plant, but said the cloud and networking product business in particularly showed "significant growth". A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the Ohio site would support artificial intelligence data centers and that at more than 6 million square feet (557,000 sqm), it was six times larger than a plant Foxconn is building in Houston to manufacture Nvidia's GB300 AI servers. The source did not give more details. Foxconn purchased the plant, a former General Motors (GM.N), opens new tab small-car factory named after the town in Ohio where it is located, in 2022 from now-bankrupt U.S. electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp for $230 million, as part of its efforts to expand into EVs. Foxconn also invested in Lordstown and the companies started making electric pickup trucks there. But the partnership later soured, with Lordstown going out of business and suing Foxconn. Foxconn said on Monday it sold the factory to an "existing business partner", without giving details. It also said the company remained committed to automotive customers in the U.S. and said it would be able to rapidly ramp up automotive production to meet customer demand when required. Foxconn has expanded beyond its traditional role as an iPhone assembler. Last week it formed a strategic partnership with industrial motor maker TECO Electric & Machinery (1504.TW), opens new tab to build data centres. Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee and Faith Hung in Taipei; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Foxconn sells Lordstown car factory for $375 mln

TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), opens new tab said on Monday it had struck a deal to sell the Lordstown former car factory in Ohio for $375 million, including its machinery, but said it would continue to use the site to make a broader range of products aligned with its strategic priorities. Foxconn, which makes data center products for Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and assembles iPhones for Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, did not elaborate on products to be manufactured at the plant, but said the cloud and networking product business in particularly showed "significant growth". A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the Ohio site would support artificial intelligence data centers, without specifying details. Foxconn purchased the plant, a former General Motors (GM.N), opens new tab small-car factory named after the town in Ohio where it is based, in 2022 from now-bankrupt U.S. electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp for $230 million, as part of its efforts to expand into EVs. Foxconn also invested in Lordstown and the companies started making electric pickup trucks there. But the partnership later soured, with Lordstown going out of business and suing Foxconn. Foxconn said on Monday it sold the factory to an "existing business partner", without giving details. It also said the company remained committed to automotive customers in the U.S. and said it would be able to rapidly ramp up automotive production to meet customer demand when required. Foxconn has expanded beyond its traditional role as an iPhone assembler. Last week it formed a strategic partnership with industrial motor maker TECO Electric & Machinery (1504.TW), opens new tab to build data centres. Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee and Faith Hung in Taipei; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Foxconn sells Lordstown car factory for $375 million

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's Foxconn said on Monday it had struck a deal to sell the Lordstown former car factory in Ohio for $375 million, including its machinery, but said it would continue to use the site to make a broader range of products aligned with its strategic priorities. Foxconn, which makes data center products for Nvidia and assembles iPhones for Apple, did not elaborate on products to be manufactured at the plant, but said the cloud and networking product business in particularly showed "significant growth". A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the Ohio site would support artificial intelligence data centers, without specifying details. Foxconn purchased the plant, a former General Motors small-car factory named after the town in Ohio where it is based, in 2022 from now-bankrupt U.S. electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp for $230 million, as part of its efforts to expand into EVs. Foxconn also invested in Lordstown and the companies started making electric pickup trucks there. But the partnership later soured, with Lordstown going out of business and suing Foxconn. Foxconn said on Monday it sold the factory to an "existing business partner", without giving details. It also said the company remained committed to automotive customers in the U.S. and said it would be able to rapidly ramp up automotive production to meet customer demand when required. Foxconn has expanded beyond its traditional role as an iPhone assembler. Last week it formed a strategic partnership with industrial motor maker TECO Electric & Machinery to build data centres. (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee and Faith Hung in Taipei; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes)