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Washington: Apple said on Monday it will spend more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years and hire 20,000 staff, with President Donald Trump quickly taking credit for the announcement.
The Silicon Valley-based giant said it was its "largest-ever spend commitment," which comes as tech companies battle for dominance in developing artificial intelligence technology.
Trump, who has pushed US companies to shift manufacturing home, claimed that his administration was to thank for the investment.
"The reason, faith in what we are doing, without which, they wouldn't be investing ten cents. Thank you Tim Cook and Apple!!!" Trump wrote in capital letters on his Truth Social platform.
Apple said its 20,000 new hires would mostly focus on research and development, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.
It announced plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas, in 2026 that will assemble servers that "play a key role in powering Apple Intelligence" -- part of the company's AI products -- and would create "thousands of jobs."
An Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit is also on the cards to "help companies transition to advanced manufacturing."
"We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we're proud to build on our long-standing US investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country's future," Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
Apple's suppliers already manufacture silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah.
