Apple announces $500bn in US investments over next four years
Apple announced Monday it would invest $500bn in the US in the next four years that would include a giant factory in Texas for artificial intelligence servers and add about 20,000 research and development jobs across the country.The move comes on the heels of reports that the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, met Donald Trump last week.Many of Apple’s products that are assembled in China and imported to the US could face 10% tariffs introduced by the White House earlier this month, though the iPhone maker secured some waivers from China tariffs during the first Trump administration.It is not the first time the iPhone-maker has made a splashy announcement about a multibillion-dollar investment in the US economy during a Trump administration.In 2018, during the first Trump administration, Apple said its new and ongoing investments would contribute $350bn to the US economy over five years.
This new injection of $500bn in expected spending includes everything from purchases from US suppliers to US filming of its television shows and movies for its Apple TV+ service.The company declined to say how much of the figure it was already planning to spend with its US supply base, which includes firms such as Corning that makes glass for iPhones in Kentucky.Trump, in a Truth Social post, thanked Apple and Cook, saying the move reflected the company’s faith in his administration.Though some of Apple’s components are made in the US – such as chips from manufacturers such as Broadcom, Skyworks Solutions and Qorvo – most of Apple’s consumer products are still assembled outside the US, particularly in China.A 10% tariff could drastically increase the cost of Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone, on its home turf.
Apple said it last month started mass-producing chips of its own design at an Arizona factory owned by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).“Apple is the largest customer at this state-of-the-art facility, which employs more than 2,000 workers to manufacture the chips in the United States,” the blog post announcing the investment read.Bringing TSMC – which produces an estimated 90% of the most advanced semi-conductors in the world – to Arizona and helping introduce legislation that later became the Chips Act to bolster US semiconductor production were two of Trump’s biggest industrial policy moves during his first term.Now, Trump is reportedly planning on issuing changes to the Chips Act signed under the Biden administration, which promised $30bn in subsidies to manufacturers planning to build chips factories in the US.But Trump said he did not believe these companies, such as TSMC, needed money, but rather they needed an “incentive”, according to the Associated Press.
“And the incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay at 25, 50 or even 100% tax,” Trump said.Apple said on Monday it would also work with Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, to build a 250,000 sq ft facility in Houston, where it will assemble servers that go into data centers to power Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features that help draft emails and perform other tasks.Those servers are currently made outside of the US, Apple said.The company also said it will expand its existing data centers in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.Apple said it planned to increase its Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5bn to $10bn, with part of the expansion being a “multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple to produce advanced silicon” at TSMC’s Arizona factory.
Apple did not disclose details of its deal with TSMC, but it has in the past used the fund to help partners build out the infrastructure needed to deliver products or services for Apple,The announcement comes after reports indicated TSMC is in talks with Intel to acquire its chip-making plants – a move the Trump administration has encouraged, according to the New York Times,Intel has previously struggled to compete with TSMC and as it stands most of the company’s chips remain manufactured in Taiwan,Apple will also open a manufacturing academy in Michigan, where its engineers, along with local university staff, will offer free courses for small and mid-sized manufacturing firms in areas such as project management and manufacturing process optimization,
NRL 2025 predicted ladder part one: turmoil-hit Souths face familiar challenges | Nick Tedeschi
It is probably too early for Wayne Bennett to bring glory back to the Rabbitohs while the Dragons are destined for wooden spoonThe high-flying Panthers are not the only team to lose talent in what has been a dramatic offseason marked by big-name transfers, high-profile coach moves, devastating injuries and, in some cases, crippling inertia.Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has always had a greater affinity for veteran players and it showed in the recruitment of Clint Gutherson, Damien Cook and Valentine Holmes, joining Lachlan Ilias and Emre Guler as new faces who will start for the Red V. The addition of three decorated rep players bodes well for the Dragons early as all will have plenty to prove, but the ability of the trio – all aged over 30 – to get their bodies through a rigorous season is questionable. The biggest concern for the Dragons though is a starting halves pairing of Kyle Flanagan and Lachlan Ilias, who are a combined 68-84 in the NRL.No team has rolled the dice more often this offseason than the Eels, who have taken some major risks over the offseason in the name of a rebuild
Can Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles go from injury to the WNBA’s No 1 draft pick?
After bouncing back remarkably from a major knee injury, the Fighting Irish point guard could overtake UConn’s Paige Bueckers in AprilThere aren’t a lot of people who can tell you what it feels like to enter college knowing professional teams already see you as a potential No 1 draft pick four years down the road. There are even fewer who can share how they prepared to hit a college court as an early enrollee, starting on a team with players three to four years older than them.There are fewer still who had all that under their belts and then suffered a season-ending (and potentially career-ending) injury a year later – and who bounced back in such a tremendous way.Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles is pretty special. Despite the fact that she may overtake Paige Bueckers as this year’s No 1 pick in the WNBA draft, the 22-year-old is still low-key
Flat revamp confirms Champions Day in tough slot for racing’s showcase
The imminence of Cheltenham and then the Grand National tends to scrub any consideration of Flat racing from most punters’ minds once February rolls around, but it is already less than 10 weeks until the 2,000 Guineas, the first Classic of the new season on turf, and there was some significant news around Britain’s richest day at the races last week with the announcement of a major upgrade to Champions Day at Ascot in October.There was £4.3m up for grabs on Champions Day last year, which is not too far shy of the £4.93m on offer over the entire four days at Cheltenham next month, and the card will now boast no fewer than five Group One events after the Long Distance Cup’s promotion from Group Two status. The programme will also be extended to seven races with the addition of a new £250,000 contest for two-year-olds, which the track will hope to fast-track to Pattern status as swiftly as possible
New content kings: the independent creators changing the NRL’s media dynamic | John Davidson
Rugby league’s history in Australia has long been influenced and shaped by legacy media, that of newspapers, radio and television in Sydney and Brisbane. The engines of The Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and The Courier Mail, along with Channel 9, 2GB and others have played key roles in covering and spreading the sport to the masses.That dynamic changed dramatically in 2017 with the launch of Fox League, a 24-hour dedicated pay TV rugby league channel. But bubbling away underneath all of that has been the rise of the internet and an explosion of social media platforms that focus a large chunk of bandwidth on the NRL.Today there are countless podcasts, accounts, websites and blogs dedicated to anything and everything connected to “the greatest game”
RFU adds extra England Test and leaves Borthwick without warm-weather camp
Steve Borthwick will have to forgo a crucial training camp and guide England into this year’s autumn internationals with a week’s less preparation after the Rugby Football Union arranged an extra lucrative November Test against Australia.England habitually play three autumn internationals in the same year as a British & Irish Lions tour but the RFU arranged a fourth, which could generate up to £10m in revenue, after its latest accounts reported record losses to reserves of £42m.The new professional game partnership (PGP) – worth £33m a year to the Premiership clubs – allows for England players to be released for an extra week before the start of international campaigns. They miss a round of domestic fixtures as a result and Borthwick uses the time to oversee a warm‑weather training camp in Girona. The extra week’s access to players was also a key part of the previous arrangement between the RFU and the Premiership
England and Ireland remind Six Nations rivals that points win prizes
Style and beauty count for only so much in top‑level sport, as Welsh and Scottish supporters were eventually reminded on Saturday. There are no marks for artistic merit, no specific rewards (beyond a try bonus point) for throwing the ball around in the name of entertainment. Occasionally, though, there are days when the losers’ enterprise and energy leaves the deepest impression.None more so, at long last, than Wales. After barely four training sessions under their interim head coach, Matt Sherratt, they looked a team who have not so much had an extreme makeover as assumed a whole fresh identity
Calls to toughen Lords rules as it is revealed one in 10 peers are paid for political advice
Revealed: how members of House of Lords benefit from commercial interests
Starmer and Macron agree to show ‘united leadership in support of Ukraine’
Starmer condemns Farage and Reform UK for ‘fawning over Putin’
Keir Starmer pledges £200m for Grangemouth oil refinery site
Starmer unlikely to unveil plan for rise in defence spending this week, says minister