Tim Cook will be at the White House for US investment announcement
Apple CEO Tim Cook will be joining President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to jointly announce Apple's $100 billion U.S. investment.
Apple CEO Tim Cook [left] with Donald Trump [right] at a Mac Pro factory
Apple is expected to be making an additional investment into manufacturing in the United States later on Wednesday, as part of a planned announcement at the White House. Following reports that there will be an announcement and that Apple CEO Tim Cook will be in attendance, there's now a predicted time for it to take place.
A White House official told CNBC that there will be an announcement by both Cook and Trump that will be held in the Oval Office. That event will occur at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
The meeting is described as Apple committing to a new "American Manufacturing Program." The official also confirmed that the $100 billion investment is in addition to a $500 billion commitment made by Apple in February, bringing the total investment over the next four years to $600 billion.
Apple has yet to confirm the investment's details, but it will probably provide more information about it after the Oval Office event.
February's $500 billion commitment was said by Apple to cover multiple facets of its U.S. operations. This includes doubling the Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which is used by manufacturers that form the Apple supply chain.
That fund also covered the opening of an advanced manufacturing facility in Houston to make servers to support Apple Intelligence. Other investment plan points include a new manufacturing academy in Michigan and increased U.S.-based research and development.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Elon is not but I love his cars and self driving tech.
Add that Cook during the last 5 years have made strategic misfires on cars, AI, "Trump isn't serious about tariffs", and "must (ship now to) compete with Zuckerberg on headsets". No wonder the market cap is stalling.
As an investor I prefer to have a CEO that can deliver tomorrow.
in joint appearances. E.g. he could say that he still wants iPhone assembly done in the U.S. and that
shifting between China and India is not "good enough". Hopefully Cook can finesse the fact that
supply chains can't turn on a dime. But Trump is probably still irked that Cook outlasted Trump 1.0,
so wants to keep up the pressure during 2.0.
First: Kuminga said that Cook was navigating and working with all administrations intelligently, and obviously referring to the Trump administration in particular. Working with an administration intelligently is completely separate from court cases in which Apple is involved, especially when they date back to the Steve Jobs era, but sure, let's blame Cook for that.
Second: the EU case tax evasion case regarding Apple and Ireland references a special tax arrangement that Apple and Ireland have had since 1996. And while Apple lost the first round in court, it then won on appeal--so this was clearly a case that deserved to be fought--and it was only after the EU appealed to its own highest court (lol, no chance of collusion there with 13 billion euros at stake!) that the case was ultimately lost. But even then, the years for which they owed back taxes were 2004-2014. And Steve Jobs was CEO of Apple for 7 of those 10 years. But yeah, let's blame Cook!
Third: the U.S. courts ruled against Epic on 9 of 10 counts. It only won on anti-steering, which allowed Epic to link to purchase outside of the App Store, but Epic still had to pay Apple 27% commission on those purchases. In the EU, they passed the Digital Markets Act that applies to all companies, not just Apple. (Except Spotify seems to get a pass, and how curious that it's based in the EU!) At any rate, Apple has been forced to allow third party app stores to offer iOS apps. But yeah, let's blame that on Cook! I should add that in terms of the tech business, the EU has been left in the dust by the U.S. and Asia, so its only means of "competing" now is to make life difficult for tech companies writ large.
Fourth: The EU USB-C requirements apply to all companies, not just Apple. This has nothing to do with Cook.
Fifth: The DOJ price-fixing case on books against Apple, which it won, dates to actions taken during the Steve Jobs era. In fact, it was Jobs's own words that proved to be the most damning evidence against Apple in the case. But yeah, let's blame it on Cook!
Sixth: The case involving the Google search deal is undecided, as is the question of whether an Apple exec committed perjury. So how about we not decide what's undecided? But with regards to search, by the time that decision is announced, it will not matter. AI search is rapidly killing off ad-supported search as we speak, and it will render the Google deal moot.
Seventh: The dumping of inept and unreliable Intel for Apple Sillcon is one of Apple's greatest decisions ever. One look at Intel's stock chart over the past 5 years tells you everything you need to know about it as a company. During one of the greatest run-ups ever for tech, in general, Intel's stock has cratered.
Eighth: Cook misfired on cars by pulling the plug?! Yes, as an Apple investor, I sit around and cry daily that Apple isn't in the same boat now as Rivian, Lucid, Polestar and Fiskar -- all losing MASSIVE amounts of money on every car they "sell" --or bankrupt and out of business in the case of Fiskar -- with no hope of profitability anywhere on the horizon. Even Tesla, with all the price-cutting and lease deals it has offered, just keeps watching sales sink every quarter.
My guess is that the key is to recognize that (1) you're a guest star on Trump's reality TV show, (2) the only thing Trump cares about is looking good on his TV show, and (3) Trump will never pay attention to the details of what actually happens or how that compares to what would have happened anyway.
So give him the drama of making it appear that he negotiated you up from 500 billion to 600 billion to 18 quadrillion or whatever made-up number makes him happy. Swallow your pride and help him look like a winner. Then go do whatever you want.
Jerome Powell needs to lower rates , 2 year treasury rate says he is already way late again . Remember “inflation is transitory”?
Cook has a history with Trump , he will be fine.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/inflation
The rest of us will see the performative act for what it is. There is no plan, only chaos, and since chaos is bad for business, Cook will do the cringe things like he does to satisfy other autocrats in order to seek greater stability for Apple. This includes lowered or eliminated tariffs, or at worst, some level of stability or predictability for what the rates will be, so that the business can make plans more than two weeks into the future.