Foxconn Technology Group has named Minneapolis-based Mortenson to serve as construction manager for two upcoming projects at the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Mount Pleasant.
Mortenson, which has long had a presence in the Milwaukee area, will oversee construction of the smart manufacturing center and a high-performance computing data center.
The 260,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is currently going through the approval process with the village of Mount Pleasant. The company also submitted plans showing a spherical structure for the data center to the village but put those on hold to review design options.
“As Foxconn develops the WVSTP, anchored by the nearly 1,000,000-square-foot Gen 6 Fab, we are excited to begin the next phases of this project with facilities that will support smart manufacturing, AI initiatives, high-performance computing and more,” said Joe Lambke, operations director for Foxconn’s Wisconsin data center, in a statement.
The two facilities are part of a strategy for Foxconn Industrial Internet to establish a presence at Foxconn’s Mount Pleasant campus. The factory will primarily make components for server racks.
“When we first had the concept for it, the idea was you could take a sheet of metal in one side and out the other side would pop a high performance computing server,” Richard Vincent, chief business officer of Fii, told BizTimes last week. “Now that we’ve been on the ground for a little while we’ve recognized that that is one potential application, but we see lots of other applications.”
He added the company expects the factory to have a high mix and lower volume of parts while still utilizing capabilities the company uses at high-volume factories in China.
A bid package for the building core and shell is currently posted to the state’s Wisconn Valley project page. The selection of subcontractors, suppliers and vendors for the project will follow Foxconn’s previously established Wisconsin First program, according to the invitation to bid.
“Our goal is to maximize participation from both local and diverse companies on each of these projects,” said Jeff Gruhn, director of project development for Mortenson’s Wisconsin office.
