Apple to create $1B 'advanced manufacturing fund' in US

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday said the company has created a $1 billion manufacturing fund that will help stimulate job growth in the United States.

Cook announced the "advanced manufacturing fund" during an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, saying capital backing the initiative will come from the company's U.S. investment pool. In the last quarter, Apple spent $50 billion on manufacturing in the U.S.

"We're really proud to do it," Cook said. "By doing that we can be the ripple in the pond, because if we can create many manufacturing jobs, those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them."

The move comes amidst political pressure to repatriate jobs lost to overseas firms, especially those outsourced to China. Of note, President Donald Trump's administration has made job creation a major platform goal, often calling on tech firms — specifically Apple — to produce their devices in the U.S. rather than farm out production to cheaper labor markets.

Cook failed to provide details about the fund, saying only that the billion dollars will come from the company's U.S. outlay. He went on to remind Cramer that Apple has to borrow money to fund domestic operations, as most the company's $256 billion cash hoard lies overseas.

The fund goes beyond Apple's $1 billion investment in SoftBank's Vision Fund, a $100 billion resource created to accelerate the development of technology around the world. Some $50 billion of the Vision Fund will be directed toward U.S. endeavors.

Apple is expected to announce its fund's first investment in May.

During today's interview, Cook outlined Apple's impact on U.S. job creation. So far, the company has created some two million jobs in America, 1.5 million of which are attributable to the App Store. The company also has 25,000 employees working on research and development in California, as well as 5,000 people in Austin, Tex., working in R&D and other sectors. Cook also counts retail workers and employees at production partners like Corning and 3M in the two million job figure.

22 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 7 years ago

And just wait until the "repatriation" thing happens. Hundreds of billions in overseas money will flow back into the US (not just Apple, mind you).

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

SpamSandwich said:

And just wait until the "repatriation" thing happens. Hundreds of billions in overseas money will flow back into the US (not just Apple, mind you).

And be distributed to shareholders and company execs and other 1%'ers. The rich will simply become richer. IMO It will not be used to invest in plant, equipment and job-creation opportunities, and will not benefit the average American.

1st 428 comments · 18 Years

just in time before all the gurus (the chaps went to china teach them know hows under the "gun") hang up their hats. Better be quick...

melgross 33607 comments · 20 Years

gatorguy said:

SpamSandwich said:

And just wait until the "repatriation" thing happens. Hundreds of billions in overseas money will flow back into the US (not just Apple, mind you).

And be distributed to shareholders and company execs and other 1%'ers. The rich will simply become richer. IMO It will not be used to invest in plant, equipment and job-creation opportunities, and will not benefit the average American.

Well, it's some of this, and some of that. First of all, it isn't the government's business to tell companies how to spend their profits. It's up to management, and yes, investors.

what people,who don't really understand economics think, is that dividends aren't useful to the economy. That's wrong. Many people hold a stock, not just the rich. All of those people benefit. I'd bet that most of Apple's stock will go to people who own funds with Apple, and small investors. Even hedge funds pay out from dividends.

while I'm not in favor of stock buybacks, I'm sure some of that will happen as well. And that's the company's business.

its a mistake to think that a company's primary purpose it to benefit others. The business of a company is to make a profit for their shareholders. And these shareholders invest in the company, which gives it the money to do what it needs to, for a number of reasons. Don't like that, then don't invest!

but there is only so much money that a company can use. Cook mentions that Apple produces more cash than they need to run the company. The general effect is to give a lot of that money back to investors. That's actually a good thing.

but, of course, if a company has a good amount of money, and is in an industry where a large amount of R&D is done, and a large amount of manufacturing is done, then it will spend at least, some of this money towards that. As Cook reiterated in his interview with Cramer tonight, Apple spent $50 billion for parts and materials here in the USA last year for USA sourced components. Anyone who doesn't think that's a lot should go back under the rock they live under.

they also have been trying to manufacturer Mac Pro models here for years, 2013, to be exact, long before Trump came on the scene. I've no doubt they would be happy to do more, if conditions are right, and perhaps, with all his faults, and that's most of his thinking and policies, Trump may get this one thing right.

and just remember that we're just about the only country that taxes profits made out of the country when a company wants to bring them back. That just hurts us.