Apple Inc. chose Corning as the recipient of the first investment from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, giving $200 million to the maker of glass used in iPhone and iPad screens.
Corning Inc., a longtime Apple partner, will use the cash on equipment and glass-processing technology mainly at its Harrodsburg, Kentucky, facility that developed the protective Gorilla Glass used on smartphones, Apple said in a statement Friday. Some of the money will also go toward research and development costs. Corning’s partnership with Apple started 10 years ago with the first iPhone.
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in May that the company planned to invest at least $1 billion to back advanced manufacturing companies in the U.S. and help create jobs in the industry. President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of American companies -- and Apple in particular -- that outsource production to non-U.S. manufacturers.
Apple said it now supports 2 million jobs in the U.S. and that the Corning relationship has helped create about 1,000.
Source: bloomberg