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Apple to Invest Billions in U.S. Manufacturing
Apple plans to invest billions of dollars in initiatives that will boost U.S. manufacturing.
Photo courtesy Apple Inc.
CUPERTINO, CA—Apple Inc. plans to invest more than $500 billion in America over the next four years. As part of the initiative, the company is building a 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston that will mass-produce servers.
In addition, Apple will double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, create a training academy in Detroit, and grow its domestic R&D investments to support cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence and silicon engineering.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this…commitment to our country’s future,” says Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”
According to Cook, the new facility in Houston will assemble servers that support Apple Intelligence, a “personal intelligence system that helps users write, express themselves and get things done. Previously manufactured outside the U.S., the servers that will soon be assembled in Houston…are the foundation of Private Cloud Compute, which combines powerful AI processing with the most advanced security architecture ever deployed at scale for AI cloud computing.”
Another key part of Apple’s investment is its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which was created in 2017 to support world-class innovation and high-skilled manufacturing jobs.
“The growing commitment will increase the fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, focused on promoting advanced manufacturing and skills development throughout the country,” explains Cook. “The fund’s expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment…to produce advanced silicon in TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona. Apple is the largest customer at this state-of-the-art facility, which employs more than 2,000 workers.”
In addition, Cook says that Apple plans to hire around 20,000 people, with the majority of positions focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, AI and machine learning.
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The new Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit will work with academia and consult with small- and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques.
“The academy will also offer free in-person and online courses, with a skills development curriculum that teaches workers vital skills like project management and manufacturing process optimization,” says Cook. “The courses will help drive productivity, efficiency and quality in companies’ supply chains.”
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