Foxconn sells former GM factory to mystery buyer after failing to make EVs

Foxconn has sold the former GM factory it has owned for three years after failing to stand up any meaningful, large-scale electric vehicle production there.

The pivot marks the second major failure of Foxconn to deliver on its promises to help revive U.S. manufacturing. The iPhone-maker once promised to build a giant LCD factory in Wisconsin — a project that Donald Trump called the “eighth wonder of the world” during his first term — and wound up underdelivering to an extreme degree.

Foxconn says the buyer is an “existing business partner” named “Crescent Dune LLC,” an entity that was created in Delaware just 12 days ago, according to records filed with the state. Matt Dewine, a spokesperson for Foxconn, declined to say more about the buyer.

Foxconn sold the factory and land for around $88 million and machinery and equipment from its EV subsidiaries for around $287 million, Taiwan stock exchange filings show.

A Foxconn representative told Automotive News the company will remain “involved in the manufacturing of products for customers at the Lordstown facility” and claimed it is “committed to customers and suppliers” in the automotive industry. But The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Foxconn now plans to build AI servers at the factory. Dewine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Foxconn announced the deal to buy the former GM plant in 2021 for $230 million, when it was still owned by EV startup Lordstown Motors. At the time, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said it was going to be the “most important electric vehicle manufacturing and R&D hub in North America.”

While Foxconn was developing EVs of its own in Asia, it was also focused on contract manufacturing in the United States. And, in short order, three of the electric vehicle companies Foxconn hoped would occupy the factory went bankrupt.

Foxconn actually built a few EVs at the factory for the now-defunct Lordstown Motors. But the Taiwanese electronics giant wound up in a bitter fight with that troubled EV startup. Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy in June 2023, and accused Foxconn — which had become an investor in the startup — of “starving it of cash,” and said it “maliciously and in bad faith destroyed that business.”

Foxconn also took a flier on a small EV startup called IndiEV, claiming it would build its electric SUV at the Ohio factory. IndiEV filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 with less than $3 million in the bank. Foxconn was supposed to build EVs for Fisker Inc as well. Fisker filed for bankruptcy in June 2024.

A fourth company, Monarch Tractor, has not had much of an impact, with Foxconn making no more than a few hundred electric tractors. Monarch’s CEO, Praveen Penmesta, did not respond to an emailed request for comment about whether its tractors will continue to be built in Ohio.