Apple's new manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona will bring more than 2000 jobs to the home country. The move comes as a push to its made-in-the-U.S. branding for its product line.
Apple seems to be following in Google's footsteps in attaching a made-in-the-U.S.A tag to its product line. Google widely touted its Moto X smartphone to be designed and assembled in the U.S.A. The home-branding is not just for advertising, but behind-the-scenes it is creating several jobs for the people in the country. In a similar approach, Apple has finalized a deal to pay $578 million to GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (GTAT) for the supply of equipments for the facility, which will create more than 2000 jobs in the U.S.
The multi-year agreement between Apple and GTAT, a tech firm that produces and sells manufacturing equipments for semiconductor and solar industries, requires the Nashua, New Hampshire-based tech company to use its own furnaces to manufacture and supply sapphire material. Apple uses the sapphire material in its products for the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and camera lens in the iPhone 5S.
The advance payment from Apple will be reimbursed over the course of five years starting 2015, while Apple will hold some exclusive rights over GTAT, GT said in a press release.
Apple's biggest equipment supplier has been Foxconn Technology Group, which manufactures products such as iPad, iPhone, and iPod devices. But recent controversies over employee management in China have led to a troublesome relation between Apple and Foxconn.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said his plan of creating jobs in the U.S. is his biggest priority and hence, the latest move adds more weight to his words.
"We are proud to expand our domestic manufacturing initiative with a new facility in Arizona, creating more than 2,000 jobs in engineering, manufacturing and construction," Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, told Bloomberg. "This new plant will make components for Apple products and it will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one."
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant has not spilled the beans about the type of products that will be made in its Arizona plant. However, since the partnered company will supply sapphire material to Apple, it may be safe to assume that the next iPhone will be made in the U.S.A. But a report from Bloomberg suggests Apple will launch a new Mac Pro next month that will be made in the U.S.
Besides its Arizona manufacturing plant, Apple has interests in another factory of Flextronics in Fort Worth, Texas. Earlier reports hint that a next generation desktop computer will be made in its Texas plant, pushing the idea of next iPhone to be made in its Arizona plant, on further notice.
