Apple To Invest $350B In U.S. Over Next Five Years

Investments will concentrate on direct employment, spending and investment with domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the fast-growing app economy created with iPhone and the App Store.

A new campus in a location to be announced later this year is among the investments Apple plans to make in the U.S. over the next five years. Building on its commitment to the American economy and its workforce, Apple’s planned investments are concentrated in three areas where the company has had the greatest impact on job creation: direct employment, spending and investment with domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the app economy. Apple is already responsible for creating and supporting over 2 million jobs across the U.S., and expects to generate even more jobs as a result of these new initiatives.

Apple investment
Workers at a factory in Texas that manufactures vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), empowering Face ID, Animoji and other iPhone X features. (Photo: Apple)

Combining new investments and Apple’s current pace of spending with domestic suppliers and manufacturers — an estimated $55 billion for 2018 — Apple’s direct contribution to the U.S. economy will be more than $350 billion over the next five years, not including Apple’s ongoing tax payments, the tax revenues generated from employees’ wages, and the sale of Apple products. Planned capital expenditures in the U.S., investments in American manufacturing over five years and a record tax payment upon repatriation of overseas profits will account for approximately $75 billion of Apple’s direct contribution.

“Apple is a success story that could only have happened in America, and we are proud to build on our long history of support for the U.S. economy,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We believe deeply in the power of American ingenuity, and we are focusing our investments in areas where we can have a direct impact on job creation and job preparedness. We have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who help make our success possible.”

Apple, already the largest U.S. taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law. A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made.

 Growing U.S. Operations

Apple expects to invest over $30 billion in capital expenditures in the U.S. over the next five years and create over 20,000 new jobs through hiring at existing campuses and opening a new one. Apple currently employs 84,000 people in 50 states.

The company plans to establish an Apple campus in a new location to be announced later this year, which will initially house technical support for customers. Over $10 billion of Apple’s expanded capital expenditures will be investments in data centers across the U.S. Over the last decade, Apple has invested billions of dollars in data centers and co-located facilities in seven U.S. states, including North Carolina, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and a recently announced project in Iowa. Today, Apple is breaking ground on a new facility in downtown Reno, which will support its existing Nevada facilities.

Investing Domestic Suppliers, Manufacturing Partners

Apple is increasing the size of the Advanced Manufacturing Fund announced last spring from $1 billion to $5 billion. The fund was established to support innovation among American manufacturers and help others establish a presence in the U.S. It is already backing projects with leading manufacturers in Kentucky and rural Texas.

Apple works with over 9,000 American suppliers — large and small businesses in all 50 states — and each of Apple’s core products relies on parts or materials made in the U.S. or provided by U.S.-based suppliers.

Preparing Students For App Economy

Apple also plans to accelerate its efforts across the U.S. in support of coding education as well as programs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM).

Apple investment
Students learn to code with Swift, a simple and fast open source coding language for apps that run on iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. (Photo: Apple)

To address the coding skills gap and help prepare more people for jobs in software development, Apple created a powerful yet easy-to-learn coding language called Swift, the free Swift Playgrounds app and a free curriculum, App Development with Swift. These are available to anyone and are already being used by millions of students at K-12 schools, summer camps and leading community colleges across the country. Over 100,000 students and teachers have also attended coding classes at Apple retail stores.

Apple will expand these initiatives and add new programs to support teachers and teacher training. The company is also increasing funding for its ConnectED program, so students in historically underserved communities have a chance to learn app coding skills and enjoy other benefits of technology in the classroom.