In a 2019 White House meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook (left) and then-President Donald Trump (right) are seen sitting together. According to UPI, “Apple plans to invest $500 billion (approximately 714 trillion won) in the United States over the next four years. This is due to the anticipated additional tariffs on Apple products assembled in China as a result of the Trump administration’s tariff policies.”
According to Reuters on the 25th (local time), Apple announced the day before that it would establish a large AI server plant in Texas over the next four years and add about 20,000 research and development jobs throughout the United States during that period. Apple expects this will lead to a total expenditure of $500 billion.
During Trump’s first term, Apple received some exemptions from China’s tariff policies, but the situation changed in the second term. It was identified that a significant portion of Apple products assembled in China could be subject to the 10% tariff imposed by President Trump.
Gil Luria, an analyst at U.S. investment bank DA Davidson, interpreted the announcement as a “political gesture by Apple toward the Trump administration.”
The plan includes building a new plant in Houston, Texas, and expanding the Advanced Manufacturing Fund from the current $5 billion to $10 billion (approximately 14 trillion won). Apple also mentioned plans to produce servers to run the “Private Cloud Computing” system, an AI feature component called Apple Intelligence, in collaboration with Foxconn Technology Group by the end of this year in Houston.
President Trump expressed gratitude to Apple and Cook on the social network service Truth Social, stating that the move reflects Apple’s confidence in his administration.
However, there was also analysis that Apple’s investment plan wasn’t significantly new. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out the day before that “Apple’s $500 billion investment announcement may mostly consist of plans that were already in place.”