Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Apple has another 20,000 staff in the US over the next four years as CEO Tim Cook plans to invest in “American innovation” and has become President Donald Trump’s latest business leader He said he plans to hire. .
The iPhone maker said on Monday that he would invest at least $500 million in the US and take office for Trump’s second term.
The figures include regular spending on thousands of US suppliers, data centers and corporate facilities, as well as new initiatives “training the next generation of US manufacturers” such as Michigan academies.
Apple will also open a manufacturing facility in Houston to build a server that can support the ambitions of artificial intelligence.
“We’re bullish about the future of American innovation,” said Cook, who met Trump at the White House last week.
Trump thanked Cook on Monday in a post on his true social site, claiming that the investment was driven by Apple’s “faith in our faith in what we do.”
The company refused to provide a further breakdown of its $500 million investment. Monday’s announcement reflects a 2018 pledge to make a $350 million “direct contribution” to the US economy after Trump was last elected.
Despite efforts to diversify its supply chain to India and other regions of Asia, Apple relies heavily on China-based suppliers and manufacturers to produce iPhones and other devices.
This makes Apple particularly vulnerable among US tech companies to 10% tariffs on Trump’s goods imported from China to the US, including what the White House introduced this month and 25 against semiconductor imports. It threatens the collection of %.
Recommended
Apple said it plans to double the “U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund,” which previously allocated funds to longtime suppliers such as GlassMaker Corning. The fund will also be used to protect chips at the new facility at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in Arizona, which Apple said is its biggest customer.
According to Apple, “mass production” of its chips began there last month, expanding its US-based silicon supply chain, which already operates in 24 factories in 12 states. But today, most of the cutting edge chips needed to power the latest iPhone are produced by TSMC in Taiwan and other Asian suppliers.
Apple said servers produced at the new 250,000-square-foot Houston facility, which is scheduled to open next year, have been previously manufactured outside the US, creating thousands of new jobs. Datacenter technology helps to deliver the power of Apple Intelligence, the new AI system for iPhones and Macs.
Apple did not comment on whether the decision to open a Houston facility was re-elected before or after Trump.
