SoftBank buys Foxconn's Ohio production site for Stargate AI server manufacturing, reportedly for $375 million; Foxconn to persist in managing the facility's operations.

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant, has sold its production facility in Lordstown, Ohio, to SoftBank earlier this month. The decision was driven by the facility's available power capacity, large land area for expansion, and the urgency to move quickly on the Stargate schedule.

The Lordstown facility, spanning 6.2 million square feet, is six times larger than Foxconn's Houston facility. It will be retrofitted to build AI servers and other gear for Stargate AI data centers. The Ohio complex could become the first manufacturing base linked directly to the Stargate project.

The Stargate project, introduced in January by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, aims to build $500 billion AI infrastructure over the next several years. SoftBank, led by its founder Masayoshi Son, has pledged to allocate $100 billion toward data centers, energy facilities, and related projects as part of this initiative.

The Japanese SoftBank Group is currently evaluating multiple locations for these data centers. Once locations are found, the Lordstown facility will be equipped with machines for SoftBank's AI data centers. The new Ohio base will exclusively produce infrastructure components for SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI.

Foxconn is not abandoning its activities in other regions. The company is increasing its capacity in multiple regions, including building up operations in Houston, Texas. Foxconn is also maintaining activities in California and Mexico, serving dozens of clients.

Contrary to some speculations, SoftBank denies that access to funding is a problem for the Stargate project. The entity considering locations for SoftBank's AI data centers is SoftBank itself, which is leading the financing of the Stargate project.

Progress on the Stargate project has slowed due to factors including U.S. tariff policy and obstacles to building viable financing models. However, the steady flow of orders is almost guaranteed for the Ohio complex, making it another important production center in Foxconn's network and a significant step forward for the Stargate project.