Apple is investing $200 million in a Kentucky manufacturing plant run by Corning, the company that makes Gorilla Glass — found on every iPhone and iPad on the planet.
It’s Apple’s first investment from the newly-formed Advanced Manufacturing Fund. The company says it plans to invest at least $1 billion in American manufacturing firms.
Corning (NASDAQ: GLW) is a 166-year-old company with 40,700 employees and annual revenue of nearly $10 billion. In 2006, it worked with Apple to develop the first version of Gorilla Glass, a glass-ceramic hybrid that was stronger and lighter than the plastic-coated screens on other early smartphones.
Today, Gorilla Glass is manufactured in Kentucky, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Apple says the investment will go specifically to the plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
“Corning’s longstanding relationship with Apple has not only led to significant glass innovations that have enabled new capabilities for consumers, it has also helped create nearly 1,000 American jobs and allowed us to continue growing and expanding in the US,” Corning CEO Wendell P. Weeks said in a statement. “This investment will ensure our plant in Harrodsburg remains a global center of excellence for glass technology.”
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is eager to pitch itself as an American company, creating American jobs and investing in American manufacturing. It says it’s directly or indirectly created 2 million American jobs, in every state. (The bulk of that number is from iOS app developers, and is difficult to prove conclusively).
President Donald Trump called Apple out by name on the campaign trail, at one point even calling for his supporters to boycott Apple.
“We're gonna get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country, instead of in other countries,” he said at a January 2016 rally.
At one point, Trump had threatened to raise taxes on imported goods, like the iPhone. He’s since backed off that campaign promise.
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