The 13,000 employees who Foxconn plans to hire for its display fab in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, will include 3,000 veterans, said retired Marine Corps Col. Peter Buck, a Foxconn senior adviser, at last Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony (see 1806290027). “As a veteran returning to my state here in Wisconsin, we’re looking at veterans closely because this is a group of people that is very mission-oriented, has been service-oriented their whole life and understands what it’s like to be part of something bigger than themselves.” The workforce will be 70 percent composed of “knowledge”-based employees, including those who will be hired for R&D, he said. The rest will be hired for their “basic skills,” he said. Foxconn is working with the University of Wisconsin to recruit knowledge-based employees for the plant, he said.

Ebsco Sign Group agreed to pay a $55,000 penalty and Cirrus Systems $21,000 to end investigations of RF violations, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said. Both agreed to put in place compliance plans. The bureau has pursued fines against several other billboard companies alleging similar violations (see 1805180068). “Cirrus admits that it marketed LED signs without the required equipment authorization, labeling, and user manual disclosures,” the bureau said. The EBSCO order contained similar language. The companies didn’t comment.

Foxconn’s $10 billion display fab in southeastern Wisconsin is “a symbol of what is to come” -- the first of a “large number of investments in advanced manufacturing facilities being reshored from overseas locations back to the United States,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in an opinion column published Thursday in The Journal Times of Racine County, Wisconsin, to coincide with the factory’s groundbreaking. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou “has already said that he is considering another enormous facility in the United States,” said Ross. The Trump administration “understands how important it is to rebuild the U.S. consumer electronics manufacturing sector,” he said. The U.S. “still leads in the creation of innovative, high-tech products such as semiconductors, state-of-the art materials and components, parts and software, but it must regain its footing in the large-scale production of consumer electronics,” he said. Rebuilding the consumer electronics industry “provides researchers in U.S. universities and laboratories with an avenue to commercialize their R&D,” and “reinvigorates the large U.S. industrial base of innovative high-tech companies,” he said. “For every new job created by Foxconn three to four jobs will be created in the supply chain, not to mention the hundreds of jobs supported in local communities.” President Donald Trump spoke at the groundbreaking.

Real estate marketing agency SmartTouch Interactive is showing at the Pacific Coast Builder Conference a geofencing technology designed to alter home buyer behavior. SmartTouch Geo steers prospective buyers “from set target zones, typically other builder’s model homes or sales offices, to take immediate action and tour a client’s set conversion zone, their own model or sales office, typically in the vicinity of the competitor’s model,” said President Robert Cowes. The buyer’s action “is altered by ads that immediately start displaying on every app or browser on their smartphone” to push a buyer toward a client’s model home while home shopping, he said.

Jonathan Friedland resigned as Netflix chief communications officer after using “insensitive” remarks in speaking to his staff “about words that offend in comedy,” he tweeted Friday. “Leaders have to be beyond reproach in the example we set and unfortunately I fell short of that standard,” he said. “I feel awful about the distress this lapse caused to people at a company I love and where I want everyone to feel included and appreciated. I feel honored to have built a brilliant and diverse global team and to have been part of our collective adventure.” Netflix didn’t comment.

Intel shares closed 2.4 percent lower Thursday at $52.19 after the announcement that Brian Krzanich resigned as CEO because of a “past consensual relationship” with an unnamed Intel employee that violated the company’s “non-fraternization policy.” Chief Financial Officer Robert Swan will be interim CEO until a permanent chief is hired either from inside or outside Intel, said the company. Krzanich hosted his fifth annual shareholder meeting as CEO May 17, giving himself high grades on his self-described five-year “report card.” Intel drew two-thirds of its revenue from PCs when he became CEO in 2013, but Krzanich successfully supervised the company’s transformation to a “data-centric” model, he told shareholders. Under his watch, Intel turned from a “flat revenue profile” at the beginning of his term into a company with a 4.5 percent compound annual growth rate in sales, he said. A November SEC filing shows Krzanich bought and sold 644,000 shares of Intel stock by exercising his options and sold an additional 246,000 shares that he already owned. At the meeting, a shareholder asked Krzanich whether his “recent stock sell” reflected his confidence in Intel's future. “I can say absolutely the sale is not a reflection at all of my confidence in the company,” he responded. “My view of the company is stronger today than it ever has been in my 35 years here.” Krzanich used the CES keynote stage to announce a “diversity initiative” that would make the Intel workforce mirror the demographic makeup of the U.S. population, tweeted CTA President Gary Shapiro Thursday. “Intel is almost there. He is a visionary and great leader despite his reason for leaving.” Krzanich's departure raises the possibility that Intel could celebrate its 50th birthday July 18 without a permanent CEO. "I want to give you a quick kind of sneak that I encourage you to look to the skies above our headquarters here in Santa Clara," so that shareholders can "celebrate with us as our anniversary approaches that week," he told the annual meeting.

Samsung Electronics expanded to a global membership with the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which said it added Zebra Technologies.

Pico projection supplier MicroVision priced its public offering of 14.4 million shares of common stock at $1.25 a share, said the company Tuesday. That was 4 cents lower than Monday close. MicroVision plans to use the estimated $16.7 million in net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, it said. Besides pico projection, MicroVision is a developer of laser-based 3D-sensing technology for autonomous driving (see 1607290012).

Quantum-dot materials supplier Nanosys expects to raise $15 million in a private equity offering that began Tuesday, said the company in a Form D SEC filing Thursday. Nanosys filed the form under Rule 506(b) that exempts companies from registration rules under certain conditions when they're selling stock. Privately held Nanosys declined to disclose its annual revenue on the form, which Chief Financial Officer Noland Granberry signed Wednesday, nor did it say how it plans to use the proceeds, but said none of the cash raised will go to any of the 15 executive officers and board members listed. The filing didn’t disclose who bought the stock and for how much but said all the buyers qualified as “accredited investors,” which federal law defines as those having some pre-existing relationship with the company, such as executive officers, board members or affiliated outside bankers. Nanosys didn’t comment Thursday. The company is “absolutely looking at liquidity options right now,” said CEO Jason Hartlove, when we asked at Display Week a year ago if there are any plans to take the company public (see 1705300060).

Digital billboard company Liantronics found itself in the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s crosshairs for alleged violations of RF rules. Liantronics agreed to admit it “marketed LED signs without the required equipment authorization, labeling, and user manual disclosures, will implement a compliance plan, and will pay a $61,000 civil penalty,” said a Tuesday order. “Rules ensure that radio-frequency devices marketed in the United States do not interfere with authorized communications, thereby maintaining network integrity and security and protecting consumers.” The Shenzhen, China-based company didn’t comment.