In another example of global tech expanding manufacturing operations in the US apparently to avoid potential Trump-led tariffs on China and other countries, Apple said Monday it will invest $500 billion over four years in the US resulting in 20,000 new jobs.
In its announcement, Apple put a heavy focus on research investment in silicon and actual construction of facilities that will fabricate chips and build hardware, including servers. For example, billions will go for producing silicon for Apple chips at a high end TSMC facility in Arizona, where such production work started last month.
The company plans to open a new advanced manufacturing facility in Houston to make servers to support Apple Intelligence, its AI tool running on iPhones. Overall, Apple said it will hire 20,000 workers in the initiative that also includes a focus on silicon engineering with R&D to support “cutting-edge fields like silicon engineering.”
The announcement came after CEO Tim Cook met with President Trump in the Oval Office last week amid Trump-led threats to raise tariffs on goods imported from China and elsewhere. After the meeting, Trump said Cook was “investing hundreds of billions of dollars” in the US. Trump has threatened a 10% tax on items imported from China where Apple packages and builds the vast majority of iPhones and other products. Trump said on Truth Social that Apple is making the investment in the US out of “faith in what we are doing.”
Apple had previously announced plans in 2021 for investing $430 billion domestically through 2026, so it is difficult to assess how much of the new spending is related to that earlier plan.
As part of the Monday announcement, Apple said it is doubling its US Advanced Manufacturing Fund, created in 2017, from $5 billion to $10 billion. That expansion includes a multi-billion commitment by Apple to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona. Mass production of Apple chips began there in January. Apple noted is has suppliers making silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
The recently-announced iPhone 16e runs the Apple A18 and new Apple C1 cellular modem design by Apple for power efficiency. Apple has committed to future innovations in modems used in Apple products.
The 20,000 hires Apple committed to make over four years will be mostly focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development and AI and machine learning. Teams in the US will on areas such as custom silicon, hardware engineering, software development, AI and machine learning.