Apple has announced new spending plans for the US, including the establishment of a 3,000-employee “campus and engineering hub” in North Carolina and the commitment of an additional $80 billion in investment across the country.
Back in 2018, the firm said it would spend more than $350 billion in the US over the next five years, but today, it announced it is increasing that figure by 20 percent to $430 billion.
“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,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press statement.
And why not? Like many big tech firms, Apple has done very well during the pandemic, when other industries have suffered and investors have sought safe places for their money. The company likes to spin these investment announcements as a sort of largesse, but they are, of course, par for the course for a hugely successful and ambitious firm like Apple. As today’s press release notes, the $80 billion will go toward “direct spend with American suppliers, data center investments, capital expenditures in the US, and other domestic spend — including dozens of Apple TV+ productions across 20 states.”
The new campus in North Carolina is noteworthy and part of an ongoing trend among tech firms to look outside their traditional California homes. Google is currently investing $1 billion in a New York City campus; Amazon is building its second HQ in Virginia; and Oracle announced last year it’s moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas.
Apple’s North Carolina campus will be part of the state’s Research Triangle (named after the trio of nearby universities: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The company will invest more than $1 billion in the area and pledges to create at least 3,000 new jobs in “machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and other cutting-edge fields.”
Notably, Apple also says it will establish a $100 million fund to support “schools and communities” in North Carolina and will contribute more than $110 million to 80 of the state’s poorest counties to help fund critical infrastructure like “broadband, roads and bridges, and public schools.” The Biden administration has made such infrastructure spending a critical part of its plans for the US, but it seems that when government lags behind, private firms will step in.
You can read Apple’s full press release for further details, including the companies expanding hiring in its teams in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington, and Iowa, and its investments in new clean energy projects in the US and abroad.
