Invitation: President Trump to announce Foxconn plant in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin has won the fight to build the first U.S. assembly plant for electronics giant Foxconn in a project that's expected to result in billions of dollars in investment in the state and create thousands of jobs in the congressional district of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan.

President Donald Trump plans to announce later today the Taiwan-based company has chosen Wisconsin for the project, according to an invitation to the White House event obtained by The Associated Press.

The AP obtained the invitation from a person with knowledge of the afternoon announcement, but the person wasn't authorized to publicly release the information. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tweeted earlier today Trump planned to make a "major jobs announcement for Wisconsin."

White House spokesman Josh Raffel confirmed the Trump announcement would be on Foxconn, but said he would not release details ahead of the event. Walker and several other Wisconsin officials, including Ryan and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, were expected at the event.

Wisconsin is among seven states that have been vying to land a Foxconn liquid crystal display panel plant. Republican leaders in the Wisconsin Senate have said Walker has been negotiating a memorandum of understanding with Foxconn – best known as the assembler of the iPhone – to build such a factory in southeast Wisconsin.

Foxconn did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Other states vying for the plant were Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Landing the multistate competition has been cast as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Foxconn is the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other devices for Apple and other brands. It has been eyeing building the plant in a part of Wisconsin represented by Ryan, who said he has met with company officials at the request of Walker, a fellow Republican.