Biden to tout new $3.3 billion Microsoft data center at failed Foxconn site Trump backed

FILE PHOTO: General view as construction continues on the Foxconn manufacturing complex in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S., August 19, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden will visit the political battleground state of Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce plans by Microsoft Corp to build a $3.3 billion high-tech data center that will create thousands of jobs, the White House said.

The Microsoft facility in Racine County, in southeastern Wisconsin, will be built on the same land where Taiwan electronics manufacturer Foxconn had planned to build a $10 billion factory that former President Donald Trump once called “the eighth wonder of the world,” before Foxconn drastically scaled back its plans.

Microsoft’s plans will result in 2,300 union construction jobs and around 2,000 permanent jobs over time, the White House said. It said nearly 4,000 jobs had been added in Racine since Biden took office, while about 1,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during the Trump administration.

Microsoft will partner with Gateway Technical College to train 1,000 people for data center and other roles by 2030, and will work to train 1,000 business leaders to adopt AI in their operations, the White House added.

“Together, these investments will position the industrial heartland to lead the way in industries of the future,” it said.

Biden, a Democrat, will also use his fourth trip this year to Wisconsin – one of seven swing states critical to his 2024 reelection bid – to meet with volunteers in Racine’s Black community, his campaign said in a separate statement.

Biden is seeking to shore up support among Black voters ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, with national polls showing him essentially tied in a rematch with Trump, a Republican making his third bid for the White House after losing to Biden in 2020.

Representatives for Trump’s campaign could not be immediately reached for comment. Trump and former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker grabbed golden shovels for the factory site groundbreaking in 2018, as politicians promised a new “Wisconn Valley” tech hub in the United States.

Biden will meet with volunteers who campaign officials are training to use a new mobile phone app that helps voters connect with people they already know to drum up votes.

His campaign is also launching a $14 million ad campaign, including a seven-figure investment targeting Black, Latino and Asian voters. On Thursday, it will release an ad called “Terminate” focusing on Trump’s attacks on Americans’ health care.

Biden’s campaign said it was expanding its operations this month to include 200 offices and 500 staff members by the end of May and planned to boost outreach to small businesses as part of a bigger drive to expand in key communities.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Nandita Bose and Susan Heavey; Editing by Leslie Adler, Heather Timmons and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)