President Joe Biden visited Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build an artificial intelligence data center.
The data center will be built on the site of a planned $10 billion Foxconn facility that Donald Trump touted as a major resurgence of U.S. high-tech manufacturing during his presidency.
However, those plans were never fully realized. Taiwan-based Foxconn has since significantly scaled back its plans for the factory, which President Trump once called the “eighth wonder of the world,” reducing the number of new jobs from 13,000 to about 1,000 currently filled. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the number has been reduced to 500 people. report.
In remarks Wednesday at Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Racine County, Biden did not mention his predecessor by name but repeatedly criticized Trump for “failed promises” on Foxconn.
Biden said Wisconsin residents and workers were left behind by the failure of the Trump-era Foxconn project, which led to the bulldozing of 100 homes and farms and the wasting of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. added.
“They dug a hole with a golden shovel, and that’s where they fell in,” Biden said.
“Foxconn turned out to be exactly the fraudster, the Go person,” he added.
Biden announced his administration’s “Investing in America” plan, which includes creating $866 billion in private investment across the country as part of efforts to rebuild roads and bridges, develop clean energy and revitalize American manufacturing. ” policy was promoted.
Biden praised Microsoft’s investment in AI data centers as a “transformational” investment in infrastructure, especially for people in Racine, and said it would be a “transformative” investment in infrastructure for new, high-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year college. He said he would have the opportunity to receive training. Every time.
“During the last administration, my predecessor kept his promises, but he broke more than he kept and left many people in areas like Racine,” he said. “On my watch, we make promises, keep promises, and make sure no one is left behind.”
Over the long term, Microsoft’s AI data center investment is expected to employ 2,300 construction union workers and create 2,000 permanent jobs, and nearly 4,000 in Racine, according to the White House. He added that jobs have been added, a third of them in manufacturing, and that Wisconsin has added 177,000 jobs since Biden became president.
Microsoft also plans to partner with Gateway Technical College in Wisconsin to develop a training facility to prepare 1,000 residents for data center jobs and science, technology, engineering and math roles by 2030. and aims to hire up to 2,000 people in permanent roles. The White House announced it had closed the Racine facility. He also plans to invest in training 1,000 business leaders to implement AI in their operations.
The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that the economy is worse during Biden’s presidency than when he was in office, often pointing to rising inflation and interest rates in recent months.
Mr. Biden and administration officials have recently traveled to key battleground states to highlight his economic achievements, including legislation to invest in infrastructure and clean energy, which Mr. He said it would lead to job creation.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com
