Biden trolls Trump by unveiling new $3bn Microsoft facility on site of ex-president’s failed FoxConn plant
Microsoft is building an AI data centre on a site where the former president had once promised a Taiwanese-owned computer chip factory would employ 10,000 Wisconsinites
Nearly six years after then-president Donald Trump promised Racine, Wisconsin residents that the “eighth wonder of the world” would rise there in the form of a chip factory operated by Taiwanese semiconductor giant Foxconn, President Joe Biden delivered on the promise of a new facility with long-term employment prospects for Wisconsinites as he announced the construction of a $3.3bn artificial intelligence data centre on the site where the planned Foxconn plant never materialised.
The data centre, which will be owned and operated by Microsoft, is set to employ 2,300 unionised workers during the construction phase of the project, and will eventually need 2,000 permanent workers at the facility.
The location of the facility, Racine, was once a Badger State manufacturing powerhouse until globalisation and slowdowns in manufacturing led to massive job losses there.
Mr Trump, who promised an industrial renaissance during his time in office, appeared in Racine in June 2018 to announce the construction of a Foxconn semiconductor fabrication facility that he claimed would create 13,000 jobs.
But that planned fabrication facility never came to fruition, leaving a vacant site and memories of broken promises from Mr Trump’s visit six years ago.
Mr Biden blamed “trickle-down economics” favoured by Mr Trump and his advisers for the decline in employment in Racine and places like it as he recalled how the ex-president had brought a gold-coloured shovel to break ground on the facility in a highly-publicised announcement alongside Republican Senator Ron Johnson and then-governor Scott Walker.
While more than $500 million in state funds were spent on purchasing and preparing the site, Foxconn’s promised investment never actually materialised.
“Look what happened — they dug a hole, those golden shovels and then they fell into it,” he said, adding that “hundreds of homes” had been “bought and bulldozed” using Wisconsinites’ tax dollars for “a project that never happened”.
“Foxconn turned out to be just that — a con,” he said. “Go figure”.
Mr Biden continued, noting how 83,500 had actually left the Badger State during Mr Trump’s term, compared with the 178,000 jobs that have been created there since he took office in 2021.
“We’re gonna create more here in Racine, big time,” he said.
He added that his administration’s “Investing in America agenda” has “created $866 billion in private sector investment nationwide” had added hundreds of thousands of jobs to the US economy, “building new semiconductor factories, electric vehicles and battery factories and so much more”.
Mr Biden also promised that the job growth seen on his watch thus far is “only the beginning”
“We’re seeing the great American comeback story all across Wisconsin. And quite frankly, the entire country. The bottom line is we’re doing what’s always worked in this country, giving people a fair shot, leaving nobody behind and growing the economy from the bottom up — not the top down,” he said, just before closing his remarks to chants of “four more years” from a boisterous crowd of union workers.
The president’s appearance in Wisconsin was a direct rebuke to the ex-president, who on Wednesday was expected to spend the day at his Palm Beach, Florida home meeting with supporters who purchased Trump-branded Non-Fungible Tokens while on a day-long break from his New York criminal trial on charges of allegedly falsifying business records.
The White House said Mr Biden’s visit to the Badger State was meant to showcase “a community at the heart of his commitment to invest in places that have been historically overlooked or failed by the last administration’s policies”.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is growing the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up, giving Americans more breathing room, and unleashing hundreds of billions of dollars of private sector investment in industries of the future, including AI, clean energy, semiconductors, and more,” the White House said.
Fox News Cheers Joe Biden’s $3 Billion Deal In Wisconsin, “It’s Going To Be Good”
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Biden announces $3.3 billion AI investment by Microsoft at scaled-back Foxconn site once touted by Trump
Summer Concepcion
Wed, May 8, 2024
President Joe Biden will travel to Racine, Wisconsin, on Wednesday to announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence data center.
The data center will be built on same property of a planned $10 billion Foxconn facility that former President Donald Trump had touted during his presidency as a major revival of tech manufacturing in the U.S.
But those plans never fully materialized. The Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer later drastically scaled back plans for the factory that Trump once called “the eighth wonder of the world,” reducing the number of new jobs from 13,000 to the roughly 1,000 spots that are filled now, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Microsoft’s investment in the artificial intelligence data center is expected to employ 2,300 union construction workers and create 2,000 permanent jobs over time, the White House said, adding that nearly 4,000 jobs have been added in Racine, with one third of those in manufacturing, and 177,000 in Wisconsin since Biden took office.
Microsoft also plans to partner with Gateway Technical college in Wisconsin to develop a training facility for 1,000 residents to prepare them for datacenter and STEM roles by 2030, with the aim of employing up to 2,000 people in permanent roles at its Racine facility, the White House said. The tech giant will also invest in training 1,000 business leaders to adopt AI in their operations.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the economy during Biden’s presidency has been worse compared to his time in office, often pointing to rising inflation and interest rates in recent months.
Biden and administration officials have recently traveled to key battleground states to highlight his economic record, such as legislation investing in infrastructure and clean energy, which the president has said leads to the creation of more well-paid jobs based in the U.S.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Biden takes aim at Trump for failed Foxconn project with visit to Microsoft’s new site in Wisconsin
Samantha Murphy Kelly and Samantha Waldenberg,
Wed, May 8, 2024
Microsoft said it is pouring $3.3 billion into building a data hub in Wisconsin that aims to train employees and manufacturers on how to best use artificial intelligence.
President Joe Biden will appear at the site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, on Wednesday to highlight the administration’s efforts to invest in job growth in America.
The news comes six years after the Trump administration announced a $10 billion investment by tech manufacturer Foxconn – with the promise to bring 13,000 jobs to the area – on the same Wisconsin land, a plan that never materialized.
The new center aims to create 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs over time, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft said it will use the center to train about 100,000 workers across the state on generative AI by 2030, thanks in part to a partnership with United Way Wisconsin, United Way Racine and other community partners. It also plans to open a lab on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to help companies and manufacturers infuse the technology into their businesses.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella earned a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, according to his company profile.
In his remarks Wednesday, Biden plans to directly point his finger at Trump for the failed project, according to a White House official.
The president’s visit to the key battleground state will also present an opportunity for the White House to try to highlight some of the Biden administration’s key first term achievements — and specifically, funding from legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the so called “Chips Act,” which invests in semiconductor chip manufacturing in the United States, that will boost the Badger State.
In a fact sheet released by the White House ahead of the president’s visit, the administration says that 177,000 jobs have been added in Wisconsin – 4,000 specifically in Racine – since the president took office in 2021.
Last year, Biden signed an executive order on AI aimed to get entrepreneurs access to technical assistance and resources, help small businesses commercialize AI breakthroughs, and expand grants for AI research in areas such as healthcare and climate change.
The White House also introduced an order in 2023 to require AI system developers to share results of their safety tests with the federal government before they are released to the public.
Microsoft’s move comes at a time when the government seeks to monitor and regulate the risks of artificial intelligence. In March, Biden urged Congress during his State of the Union address to pass legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, including banning “AI voice impersonation and more.” He said lawmakers need to “harness the promise of AI and protect us from its peril,” warning of the technology’s risks to Americans if left unchecked.
Beyond AI, Wisconsin is seeing a spate of funding toward futuristic industries. The state received $6.9 billion from Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda for infrastructure and clean energy.
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President Biden Delivers for Wisconsin While Trump Backs Billionaires Over Working Families
MAY 8, 2024
Today, President Biden’s visit to Racine, Wisconsin will underscore how his economic agenda is uplifting Wisconsin families by creating good-paying jobs, cutting costs, and building the middle class. Just last week, Trump spent his short time in Wisconsin lying about President Biden’s economic wins, because he knows that his only defense against President Biden’s successful record is to lie in a desperate attempt to hide how he failed Wisconsin families.
DNC spokesperson Addy Toevs released the following statement:
“Thanks to President Biden, Wisconsinites are seeing job creation, higher wages, and lower costs on things like prescription drugs and health care. That’s in sharp contrast to Trump’s record in the state: Trump cost Wisconsin more than 80,000 jobs during his tenure, incentivized companies to ship jobs overseas, and called to eliminate worker protections. Trump was a disaster for Wisconsin, and voters won’t forget when they cast their ballots in November.”
President Biden is empowering Wisconsin families.
White House: “3% unemployment rate in Wisconsin, with 177.7K new jobs created under the Biden Administration including 472 jobs in clean energy.”
White House: “266.3K individuals in Wisconsin signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces during the Open Enrollment Period for 2023 and will benefit from average savings of about $800/year from lower health care premiums because of the Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan.”
Treasury Department: “The American Rescue Plan sent economic impact payments of up to $1,400 to more than 2.9 million people in Wisconsin, totaling $7.1 billion.”
HHS: “7,895 child care programs in Wisconsin have received American Rescue Plan stabilization support, impacting up to 326,700 children”
White House: “Wisconsin has seen an influx of $1.6B in funding from the Biden Administration to bring affordable, reliable high-speed internet to everyone in Wisconsin.”
White House: “The state has received $149.4M in home energy rebates to help families cut their energy costs.”
The Cap Times: “Wisconsin’s union workforce grows at fastest rate in over 30 years”
Donald Trump was a disaster for Wisconsin families, jobs, and pocketbooks.
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: On average, the richest 1 percent of Wisconsinites received $39,610 in tax cuts from Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Wisconsinites in the lowest percentile of annual income received an average tax cut of just $30.
Wall Street Journal: “President Donald Trump’s proposed budget calls for eliminating federal funding of a program to support small manufacturers that officials say created or protected more than 100,000 jobs in the last fiscal year alone.”
Washington Post: “As a candidate, Trump vowed to stop companies from moving offshore by imposing a 35 percent border tax on those that sought to ship products home from their new foreign plants. […] This year, companies such as Wells Fargo, Microsemi and Caterpillar have announced plans to shift work overseas from U.S. sites, according to a Labor Department office that determines worker eligibility for retraining aid.”
New York Times: “The bill that Mr. Trump signed, however, could actually make it attractive for companies to put more assembly lines on foreign soil. […] Under the new law, income made by American companies’ overseas subsidiaries will face United States taxes that are half the rate applied to their domestic income, 10.5 percent compared with the new top corporate rate of 21 percent. ‘It’s sort of an America-last tax policy,’ said Kimberly Clausing, an economist at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who studies tax policy.”
Brookings: “From the Department of Labor to the Department of Education, funded programs [under the Trump administration] could be cut by more than 5 percent. That includes almost $1 billion less combined for Adult Employment and Training Activities and Dislocated Workers Employment and Training Activities. At the same time, many analysts believe changes to existing CTE programs could limit schools’ abilities to flexibly use federal funds.”
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