Apple Inc on Monday said that it would open an engineering hub in North Carolina, marking its first major campus on the US’ east coast as part of an increased commitment to investing domestically.
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant said that it would spend US$1 billion in the area around Raleigh Durham and Chapel Hill, known as the Research Triangle and home to other big companies that have a significant presence there, including IBM Corp, Cisco Systems Inc and GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Apple said that it would create 3,000 jobs at the new site in machine learning, artificial intelligence and software engineering.
Photo: Reuters
Apple’s announcement is part of the iPhone maker’s planned 20 percent increase in US investments over the next five years, allocating US$430 billion in direct spending on US-based suppliers, data center investments, capital expenditures in the US and other projects, including dozens of Apple TV+ productions, and research and development on technologies such as custom silicon and 5G.
The effort would result in 20,000 new jobs, including in San Diego; Los Angeles; Boulder, Colorado; and Boston by 2026, the company said in a statement.
“At this moment of recovery and rebuilding, Apple is doubling down on our commitment to US innovation and manufacturing with a generational investment reaching communities across all 50 states,” Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook said.
Over the past three years, Apple’s investments have outpaced its original five-year goal of US$350 billion set in 2018, the company said.
However, the firm has also been growing. Its shares have gained about 200 percent since the previous investment plan was announced in January 2018, and the company is now worth more than US$2 trillion.
Apple said that it is also the US’ biggest taxpayer, having paid US$45 billion in domestic corporate income taxes in the past five years.
‘FINGERPRINTING’: The ‘private relay’ feature hides a user’s IP address by rerouting the Web connection through a third party, making it impossible to infer their identity Apple Inc on Monday said a new “private relay” feature designed to obscure a user’s Web browsing behavior from Internet service providers and advertisers would not be available in China for regulatory reasons. The feature was one of a number of privacy protections Apple announced at its annual software developer conference on Monday, the latest in a years-long effort by the company to cut down on the tracking of its users by advertisers and other third parties. Apple’s decision to withhold the feature in China is the latest in a string of compromises the company has made on privacy in a country
SUPPLY CHAIN RESHUFFLE: The chipmaker was ‘cautious’ in not making commitments too early in building production in the US, citing ‘geopolitical factors,’ Nikkei Asia said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is considering building an advanced IC packaging plant in the US following a massive investment to set up a wafer fab in Arizona, Nikkei Asia reported. TSMC was considering the plant in response to “Washington’s desire to bring more of the tech supply chain onto home turf,” the report said. TSMC increasingly faces the need to expand in the US, which accounts for about 62 percent of its total sales, Nikkei Asia said, citing three sources who declined to be named. The potential US plant would be equipped with the latest 3D stacking technologies to arrange chips
Apple Inc has hired Ulrich Kranz, a former senior executive at BMW AG’s electric vehicle (EV) division, to help lead its own vehicle efforts, people familiar with the situation said. The tech giant hired Kranz in recent weeks, about a month after he stepped down as CEO of Canoo Inc, a developer of self-driving EVs. Before cofounding Canoo, Kranz was senior vice president of the group that developed the i3 and i8 cars at BMW, where he worked for 30 years. Kranz is one of Apple’s most significant automotive hires, a clear sign that the iPhone maker is determined to build a
PLEDGE: The contract chipmaker said it would issue at least NT$2.5 a share each quarter and no less than NT$10 per share for the whole of this year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its proposed cash dividend for last quarter to NT$2.75 per share from NT$2.5 a year earlier, given the company’s increased earnings. That represents a payout ratio of about 51 percent based on its earnings per share of NT$5.39 in the first three months of this year. TSMC said that its board of directors approved the cash dividend distribution yesterday. The Hsinchu-based chipmaker reassured its investors that it intends to maintain a stable and sustainable dividend policy. The company said that it would issue at least NT$2.5 a share
RSS