This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 24, 2017.

BEIJING/HONG KONG: Foxconn Technology Group is considering building a US display making facility for upwards of US$7 billion (RM31.08 billion), a major investment for Apple Inc’s main manufacturer that may create tens of thousands of American jobs during President Donald Trump’s first year in office.

The company is considering a joint investment with Sharp Corp, the Japanese display supplier it bought last year, but details have yet to be hammered out, Reuters cited chairman Terry Gou as telling reporters in Taipei on the sidelines of a company event. Foxconn confirmed the report yesterday.

An investment by Foxconn, whose main listed unit is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, would mark a victory for Trump, who’s repeatedly blasted China for stealing American jobs and devastating US manufacturing. But Foxconn is one of the single largest private employers in China and the government there has conveyed its concern over the possibility that it will shift investment away from the country.

China is pivotal to Foxconn’s massive electronics assembly operation, which cranks out more iPhones and iPads than any other in the world. Foxconn has said it’s in preliminary discussions to broaden its investment in the US, without elaborating. Trump has often articulated his vision of bringing manufacturing jobs back to America from China, which became the world’s factory floor thanks to cheap labour and central policy support. — Bloomberg