SoftBank is the mystery buyer of Foxconn’s former factory in Lordstown, Ohio. Bloomberg News reports SoftBank plans to turn the site into an AI server hub tied to its Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle.
The announcement follows Foxconn’s vague July sale of the factory and electric vehicle gear to “Crescent Dune LLC,” a Delaware entity formed just weeks before. Neither Foxconn nor Crescent Dune responded to comment requests.
Monarch Tractor, the only remaining customer of Foxconn’s Ohio EV contract manufacturing, faces uncertainty. Monarch CEO Praveen Penmesta hasn’t replied to inquiries. 
The Stargate initiative launched the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, with a major data center underway in Texas. SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle aim to expand it nationwide and internationally. Funding for Stargate has reportedly been shaky, slowed by trade wars, Bloomberg noted in May.
Foxconn acquired the Lordstown plant in late 2021 from bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors. Foxconn chairman Young Liu had touted plans to make it a key North American EV manufacturing hub. That never materialized as Lordstown Motors went bankrupt in 2023 along with other potential customers like Fisker and IndiEV.
The sale formally closed in 2022, signaling a pivot from EVs to AI infrastructure at the Ohio site.
