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May 5, 2017

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Apple sets out to show its vital role in US economy

Source: AP | 00:01 UTC+8 May 5, 2017 | Print Edition

APPLE is getting more aggressive about emphasizing its role in the US economy, hoping to counter recurring criticism over its reliance on overseas factories.

Apple for the first time released a state-by-state breakdown of where its 80,000 US employees work on Wednesday, showing that more than half of them are located outside Silicon Valley. It also announced a US$1 billion fund aimed at creating more US manufacturing jobs, although it provided few details.

The strategy appears aimed at complicating efforts by US President Donald Trump and other politicians to vilify Apple for using companies in China and elsewhere to assemble most of its products. Apple had no comment on political ramifications of its announcements.

CEO Tim Cook first described the manufacturing fund in an interview on CNBC, but didn’t say how the money will be disbursed or who will be eligible to receive it. Apple will provide more details when it announces its first investment by the end of the month, he said. Apple’s initial billion-dollar investment amounts to a tiny fraction of its US$257 billion in cash.

Cook also promised that Apple will hire “thousands of employees, thousands more in the future” in the US, although he didn’t specify how quickly that will happen. Apple’s US payroll has grown roughly 40-fold since 1998, when it had 5,000 US workers.

Cook also said Apple is studying ways to help more people learn the programing skills to make apps.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from China, a change that would drive up Apple’s costs. That could pressure the company to raise its prices at a time when it is already having trouble increasing its sales of iPhones and iPads.

“They are trying to make the case that they really do have a lot of folks working in the US,” said technology analyst Rob Enderle.

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