APPLE on Monday (Feb 24) said it plans to help bring online a quarter-million-square-foot factory in Texas by 2026 to build artificial intelligence servers and will add about 20,000 research and development jobs across the US
Apple said that it plans to spend US$500 billion in the US over the next four years, though that figure includes everything from purchases from US suppliers to US filming of television shows and movies for its Apple TV+ service. The company declined to say how much of the figure it was already planning to spend with its existing US supply base, which includes firms such as Corning, which makes glass for iPhones in Kentucky.
The move comes after media reports that Apple chief executive Tim Cook met with President Donald Trump last week. Many of Apple’s products that are assembled in China could face 10 per cent tariffs imposed by Trump earlier this month, though the iPhone maker previously secured some waivers from China tariffs during the first Trump administration.
Apple made a similar announcement about its US spending plans during the first Trump administration, at that time saying it planned US$350 billion over five years.
Most of Apple’s consumer products are assembled outside the US, though many of Apple components are still made there, including chips from Broadcom, SkyWorks Solutions and Qorovo. Apple also said that it last month started mass producing chips of its own design at an Arizona factory owned Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).
Bringing TSMC to Arizona and helping introduce legislation that later became the CHIPS Act to bolster US semiconductor production were two of Trump’s biggest industrial policy moves during his first term.
Apple said on Monday that it will work with Hon Hai Precision Industry’s Foxconn to build a 250,000-squre-foot facility in Houston, where it will assemble servers that go into data centres to power Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features that help draft emails and perform other tasks. Those servers are currently made outside of the US, Apple said.
Apple also said it plans to increase its Advanced Manufacturing Fund from US$5 billion to US$10 billion, with part of the expansion being a “multibillion-US dollar commitment from Apple to produce advanced silicon” at TSMC’s Arizona factory. Apple did not disclose details of its deal with TSMC, but it has in the past used the fund to help partners build out the infrastructure needed to deliver products or services for Apple.
Apple will also open a manufacturing academy in Michigan where its engineers, along with local university staff, will offer free courses for small and mid-sized manufacturing firms in areas such as project management and manufacturing process optimisation. REUTERS
