US President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook made a joint announcement from the White House on Wednesday of another Apple pledge to move manufacturing back to the United States, with an additional $100 billion in funding for domestic projects. The move could keep Apple one step ahead of Trump’s unpredictable tariff policy, which threatens to increase costs on iPhones manufactured overseas.
The cornerstone of Apple’s additional commitment will be a new project called the American Manufacturing Program. According to an Apple press release, the program will see Apple investing in growing its domestic manufacturing commitments in a number of different directions in addition to what it’s done so far.
“We’re proud to increase our investments across the United States to $600 billion over four years and launch our new American Manufacturing Program,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
Apple has made much of its attempts to appease Trump’s domestic manufacturing demands, which have come following threats of tariffs on iPhones produced outside the United States. Despite those demands, Apple has long insisted that iPhone manufacturing is unlikely to return to the United States, and the Wednesday announcement was yet another opportunity Apple used not to make that move.
But while Apple won’t be bringing iPhone manufacturing back to the United States, it will be making a number of parts for the industry-leading devices at US facilities.
The program will see Apple expand its partnership with Gorilla Glass maker Corning to centralize iPhone and Apple Watch glass production at its Kentucky factory. The iBiz also struck a new multiyear deal with Coherent, its long-standing VCSEL laser partner, to produce the Face ID and related sensor lasers for iPhone and iPad in Texas. Expansion of domestic semiconductor partnerships with US firms such as Texas Instruments, GlobalWafers America, and MP Materials (the nation’s only domestic rare earth magnet maker), and others, also mean that some of the silicon and magnet components for iPhone devices sold in the US will actually be made here, too.
“[These partners] produce components that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we’re grateful to the President for his support,” Cook said. He appears to have risen in Trump’s standing, being referred to as “one of the truly great legends of our time in my book” instead of “Tim Apple” at this meeting.
Apple’s latest manufacturing investment follows a $500 billion domestic manufacturing commitment the company announced in February, which will mostly fund new facilities in Texas and Arizona for constructing AI-accelerating servers and chips, respectively. Apple also said it intends to do more research and development domestically as part of that deal.
Apple also last month announced the opening of a manufacturing academy in Detroit in partnership with Michigan State University, where it educates small and mid-size businesses on smart manufacturing and, ironically enough, given Apple’s stumbles in the space, AI implementation. The academy’s doors open later this month, and virtual programming will also be offered at a later date.
That hasn’t been enough to ease the threat of Trump’s tariffs, however. Apple moved much of its US-bound iPhone manufacturing to India – something Trump said he doesn’t like much – but the iPhone is exempt from the 25 percent tariff, which kicks off overnight, and goes up to 50 percent by the end of the month, according to CNBC. That said, Trump has changed his mind on tariffs many times, and may at any point decide to end that exemption. Wednesday’s manufacturing commitment could help Apple stave off that possibility.
“This is the largest investment Apple has ever made in the US or anywhere else,” Trump claimed from the Oval Office. “Apple’s been an investor in other countries a little bit – I won’t say which ones, but they’re coming home.” ®