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By Valerie Bauerlein 

Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou reaffirmed his commitment to a large Wisconsin factory that is behind schedule with a trip to the state Thursday, a day after meeting with President Trump at the White House.

The Apple Inc. supplier said that Messrs. Gou and Trump "discussed the latest updates and the positive progress of the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park project among other matters."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed the meeting and called Mr. Gou "brilliant" in a statement Thursday. "Mr. Gou is spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there," she said.

The Taiwanese manufacturing giant is lagging behind its projections for the Wisconsin liquid-crystal display factory, where it pledged two years ago to invest $10 billion and hire 13,000 people by 2032.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Foxconn had spent only $99 million, 1% of its pledged investment, as of the end of December, according to its latest state filings. The company had fewer than 200 employees, though it projected having as many as 2,080 in-state employees by the end of 2019, state filings show.

The Foxconn project is one of the biggest U.S. public-incentive deals ever offered to a foreign company, a more than $4 billion package of state and local tax breaks and infrastructure investment.

President Trump has been involved with the Wisconsin project since its inception, and said he was the one who advised Mr. Gou to build in rural southeastern Wisconsin. At last year's groundbreaking, President Trump touted the plant as a pillar of his plan to bring advanced-manufacturing jobs to the industrial Midwest and described Chairman Gou as "one of the most successful businessmen in the world, very few people even close."

But President Trump didn't mention Foxconn in a Saturday night rally in Green Bay, a rare omission for a project he has described as "the eighth wonder of the world."

As he arrived for his White House visit Wednesday, Mr. Gou wore a baseball cap decorated with the Taiwanese and American flags, and presented a cap like it to President Trump, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. On his official Facebook page, Mr. Gou posted photos of himself standing outside the White House and saluting while standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Mr. Gou, who recently announced his candidacy for president of Taiwan, also discussed his political future with President Trump, according to Taiwan's news agency. The White House said the two men didn't discuss the campaign.

The meeting was closely watched in diplomatic circles, as the U.S. doesn't officially recognize Taiwan, having switched diplomatic recognition to China four decades ago.

President Trump has stepped up U.S. support for Taiwan, signing legislation to encourage higher-level contact. As president-elect, Mr. Trump spoke with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in late 2016, which was believed to be the first time a president or president-elect has spoken with the leader of Taiwan since Washington cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979.

"Immediately it puts [Mr. Gou] on the global stage as a guy who can command a meeting with the president of the U.S., even though Taiwan's president has been in office for four years and she hasn't had one," said Sean King, an Asia specialist at consulting firm Park Strategies.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who defeated Republican Scott Walker last fall, wasn't informed of or invited to the White House meeting, according to his spokeswoman.

The governor met with Mr. Gou on Thursday. Mr. Evers made no comment to reporters as he left the meeting. At an unrelated news conference Thursday morning, Mr. Evers said he planned to tell Mr. Gou that he was eager to help Foxconn succeed, as well as ensure the project protects taxpayers and meets the state's environmental standards.

The governor said on April 23 that Foxconn is seeking changes in its contract with Wisconsin, which would award up to $2.85 billion in incentives if Foxconn meets employment and investment benchmarks. Mr. Evers asked the company to provide details on the changes soon "so that we can all view this project with as much relevant information as possible."

The local governments in Mount Pleasant, the factory site's location about 20 miles south of Milwaukee, have borrowed $350 million so far to clear and prepare a 1,200-acre site for Foxconn. The site is mostly barren, except for heavy equipment and a multipurpose building used as a site for staging construction equipment.

Local leaders in Mt. Pleasant said in a joint statement that they met with Mr. Gou on Thursday, too, and are encouraged about progress on the site in recent weeks.

Foxconn said this week that it is picking up the construction pace after a monthslong winter break. Foxconn said it recently awarded $34 million in contracts for construction of utilities and roadways at the site. The company said it expects to begin "the next phases of construction...by summer 2019 with production expected to commence during the fourth quarter of 2020."

--Rebecca Ballhaus and Yoko Kubota contributed to this article.

Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2019 18:00 ET (22:00 GMT)

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