Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Apple said it planned to hire an additional 20,000 staff in the US over the next four years as chief executive Tim Cook set out plans to invest in “American innovation”, making him the latest business leader to court President Donald Trump with eye-catching announcements.
The iPhone maker said on Monday it would invest at least $500bn in the US, spread over Trump’s second term in office.
The figure includes regular spending on thousands of US suppliers, data centres and corporate facilities, as well as new initiatives such as an academy in Michigan “to train the next generation of US manufacturers”.
Apple will also open a manufacturing facility in Houston to build servers that can support its artificial intelligence ambitions.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation,” said Cook, who met Trump at the White House last week.
Trump on Monday thanked Cook in a post on his Truth Social site, claiming the investment was driven by Apple’s “faith in what we are doing, without witch [sic], they wouldn’t be investing ten cents”.
The company declined to provide any further breakdown of its $500bn investment figure. The announcement on Monday echoes its 2018 pledge to make a $350bn “direct contribution” to the US economy, after Trump was last elected.
Despite efforts to diversify its supply chain into India and other parts of Asia, Apple remains overwhelmingly reliant on suppliers and manufacturers based in China to produce its iPhones and other devices.
That leaves Apple particularly vulnerable among US tech companies to Trump’s 10 per cent tariffs on goods imported to the US from China, which the White House introduced this month, as well as a threatened 25 per cent levy on semiconductor imports.
Apple said it planned to double its “US Advanced Manufacturing Fund”, which had previously allocated funds to long-standing suppliers such as glassmaker Corning, to $10bn. The fund will also be used to secure chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s new facility in Arizona, where Apple said it is the largest customer.
Apple said “mass production” of its chips began there last month, expanding its US-based silicon supply chain, which already operates in 24 factories across 12 states. Today, however, the vast majority of the cutting-edge chips needed to power the latest iPhones are produced by TSMC in Taiwan, as well as other suppliers in Asia.
Apple said the servers produced at its new 250,000 square foot facility in Houston, due to open next year, were previously manufactured outside the US, creating thousands of new jobs. The data centre technology will help to power Apple Intelligence, its nascent AI system for iPhones and Macs.
Apple would not comment on whether the decision to open its Houston facility was made before or after Trump was re-elected.
Read the full article here
