LORDSTOWN, Ohio: Electric-truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors Corp. has sold its Ohio factory to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group for $230 million.

Lordstown Motors struck a deal with General Motors Co. in late 2019 to buy the plant.

The sale will bring funds needed to mass-produce the electric pick-up truck named Endurance.

For Foxconn, which is the largest assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, the plant would instantly give the company an auto manufacturing footprint in the U.S. as it pushes into the manufacturing and selling of electric vehicles.

Industry observers note that selling the facility and operating in parallel with Foxconn could help Lordstown better leverage the facility. At its peak, 10,000 people were employed at the plant.

Lordstown CEO Dan Ninivaggi said in an interview in August that he was seeking out partners to help the company take full advantage of the plant, which was once among Ohio’s largest employers.

“The key to unlocking financial potential is maximizing the value of the Lordstown facility,” Ninivaggi said at the time. “We are exploring a number of alternatives. It could take a number of different forms. That is job one for me.”

For its part, Foxconn will seek to build electric vehicles from the chassis on up. It is rapidly entering the EV business, just as major tech companies from Apple to Xiaomi Corp. are investing large amounts in technologies for next-generation mobility.

Earlier in 2021, Chairman Young Liu of Foxconn’s flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., said the company was looking into opening an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Wisconsin.

Observers believe Foxconn’s Ohio purchase will make it a contender to manufacture electric vehicles for Apple.