A Taiwanese electronics company says that it may spend more than $10 billion to develop factories in the United States.

Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, made the announcement to reporters Thursday. In January, the company said it would build a display panel factory, estimated to cost as much as $7 billion. Gou did not provide details Thursday about where building might take place.

Manufacturing Giant

Foxconn is the biggest contract manufacturer for smartphones. It makes products for Apple, Sony, Blackberry and other companies.

Gou told shareholders that Foxconn will create U.S. manufacturing and software development operations in artificial intelligence and automation.

He said that Foxconn has been in contact with the Trump administration. He added that he expects to finish negotiations by the end of July or early August.

The first investment agreements could involve at least three U.S. states. Three others could be added later, Gou said.

"We will provide at least tens of thousands of job opportunities," Gou said Thursday.

He said Foxconn hopes to work with American states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas.

Implications of Foxconn's expansion to the U.S.

In January, Gou said that Pennsylvania was the top candidate for the panel factory. It would be linked with the Sharp electronics company.

Foxconn bought the Japanese company in March 2016 for $3.5 billion.

Expansion into the United States would decrease Foxconn's dependence on China. The company has about 1 million employees and most of its operations in that country.

I'm John Russell.

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Words in This Story

display panel – n. a part of an electronic device (such as a computer monitor) that shows information

contract - n. legal agreement between companies, people, etc..

smartphone – n. a mobile telephone that can be used to send and receive e-mail, connect to the Internet, take photographs, etc.

artificial intelligence – n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence

automation – n. running or operating (something, such as a factory or system) by using machines, computers, etc., instead of people to do the work

opportunity - n. a situation in which something can be done