Apple is making a $1 billion investment aimed at boosting high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States, CEO Tim Cook said today.
“We asked ourselves, ‘How can we get more people to do advanced manufacturing in the United States?'” Cook said during an interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer at Apple Campus today. “And I’m proud to tell you that we’re creating an advanced manufacturing fund. We’re initially putting $1 billion in the fund.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken shots at Cupertino for making the iPhone in China, but if Apple’s new $1 billion fund proves successful, it could create waves of manufacturing jobs in the United States.
Apple invests in U.S. manufacturing
Details on the fund aren’t totally clear yet. Cook says Apple will announce its first investment from the fund later in May. Instead of pulling from its massive stash of overseas cash, Cook says Apple will borrow the money because it’s cheaper than paying taxes to bring its money back home.
Cook said he would be willing to work with the Trump administration to help reform the U.S. tax code, which hampers U.S. companies operating on the global market. The Apple CEO said his view of the U.S. government is there are some things they will agree on and some they won’t.
The wide-ranging Mad Money interview covered a number of other topics like artificial intelligence, how Apple Watch helped Cook lose 30 pounds, and why iPhone 8 rumors are killing iPhone 7 sales.
“There are more rumors floating and more press articles and mentions of new things. And when that happens a percentage of people delay,” said Cook. “And so yeah, we see a piece of that. That probably affects us more in China than other places because there’s a tendency there to buy the latest thing.”
Watch the full segment below:
