The article says that these workers would likely be engineers and would fill a gap in prospective talent due to a tight labour market. If it is true, then it would make a mockery of the $3 billion in subsidies offered by the local government if it opted to open the factory in Wisconsin.

However Foxconn has denied that it was recruiting Chinese workers. The company said: "We can categorically state that the assertion that we are recruiting Chinese personnel to staff our Wisconsin project is untrue. Our recruitment priority remains Wisconsin first and we continue to focus on hiring and training workers from throughout Wisconsin. We will supplement that recruitment from other US locations as required."

Foxconn said it would create 13,000 jobs and invest $10 billion. The state subsidy came out to $230,000 per job.  However, the Wall Street Journal report suggests that the company is struggling to find qualified engineers in the area, though, as the unemployment rate in the state reached a record low at three percent, along with a recent national low at 3.7 percent.

Last week we reported how the plans already appear to be scaled back.