The world’s most valuable company is making its biggest money move yet on home soil.
What happened: Apple will invest more than US$500 billion in the U.S. — which the company calls its "largest-ever spend commitment” — and hire 20,000 people over the next four years as it looks to bring operations back to the U.S. and reduce its reliance on China.
- As part of the investment, Apple will build a new production plant in Houston, Texas, and establish an academy in Michigan to train manufacturers.
Why it matters: Earlier this month, the Trump administration hit all Chinese-made goods with new 10% tariffs and has threatened more measures that would punish firms that manufacture outside the U.S. That’s put pressure on tech companies to pour more cash into the States.
- Thanks to commitments from chipmakers like Intel, TSMC, and Micron, planned investments in U.S. electronics manufacturing have hit nearly $450 billion.
- Meanwhile, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle announced their own $500 billion AI infrastructure project in the U.S. last month.
In Canada: Trump is also set on bringing car manufacturing back to the U.S., threatening 25% tariffs on auto imports. For Canada, where vehicles have become the second-largest export, automakers moving their production to the U.S. would be especially concerning.—LA