Apple announces plans to create 20,000 US jobs in $500bn investment splurge
Apple has announced a massive $500bn (£400bn) investment plan across the US over the next four years.
The tech giant is planning to hire around 20,000 people, of which the vast majority will be focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.
Apple says it will expand its facilities, and hire more staff, in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington.
The plan includes building a new factory in Texas, doubling the size of its US Advanced Manufacturing Fund, opening a manufacturing academy in Detroit, and accelerating its investments in AI and silicon engineering.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future.
“From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”
The plan will add around 20,000 research and development jobs across the country, with CEO Tim Cook saying Apple is “bullish on the future of American innovation”.
But stocks fell on Wall Street, on concerns that the US economy may be slowing as Trump’s threatened tariffs hit confidence.
Shares had earlier rallied in Germany, as investors reacted to the news that the conservative CDU/CSU party had won last weekend’s election. A grand coalition with the centre-left SPD, keeping the far-right AfD out of power, seems likely.
The recent weakness in US equities reflects concerns that US growth could be slowing significantly, reports RupertThompson, chief economist at asset manager IBOSS.
Thompson writes:
The weakness in US equities was triggered by an outbreak of concerns that, far from picking up speed if anything, US growth could actually be slowing significantly. The worries were triggered by a string of weak numbers – namely larger than expected declines in housing starts and retail sales in January and in business and consumer confidence in February.
Walmart added to the angst, warning of a slowdown in growth over the coming year. Finally, Musk was back in the headlines with his weekend email requiring government employees to justify their work over the past week or lose their job. The fear here is that his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) could indirectly lead to lay-offs of as much as a million.
Stocks in New York have fallen into the red in early trading, following the selloff at the end of last week.
The S&P500 index, which slumped by 1.7% on Friday, is down another 0.44%, or 26 points, at 5,986 points.
The tech-focused Nasdaq index has lost almost 1%, with data firm Palantir down 10%, bitcoin-focused software firm MicroStrategy losing 5% and chip firms Intel and AMD down over 3% each.
Last Friday’s drop – the biggest in two months – was blamed on concerns that US business and consumer sentiment is deteriorating amid rising tariff uncertainty.
Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBSGlobalWealthManagement, predicts there’ll be more volatility this year:
“We see the S&P 500 rising to 6,600 by the end of the year, although the journey up is likely to be accompanied by heightened volatility. Portfolio diversification and hedging approaches are key, and we think capital preservation strategies can help manage drawdown risks in equities.”
Just in: Wood Group have confirmed they have received an offer from Sidara, as rumoured earlier this afternoon.
They advise shareholders to take no action in relation to the Proposal, and caution that there’s no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms of any such offer.
FT: Embattled Wood Group enters takeover talks with UAE’s Sidara
There’s a second flurry of takeover excitement in the City of London.
Oil services and engineering company JohnWood has entered talks with Sidara about a potential takeover by the United Arab Emirates-based company, the Financial Times reports.
This has lifted John Wood’s share price by 30% to 34p, raising its value to around £240m.
That recovers some of its recent losses – the company’s value halved on 14th February after it predicted its free cashflow would be negative this year.
Awkwardly for John Wood, it rejected a £1.4bn takeover offer from Sidara last May, arguing that the bid “fundamentally undervalued” the company. That’s hard to defend, given Sidara were offering 205p per Wood share….
The new Apple Manufacturing Facility to be opened in Houston, Texas, will produce AI servers which are currently being made outside the US.
Apple says the new 250,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in 2026, and will create “thousands of jobs”.
The company adds:
Previously manufactured outside the U.S., the servers that will soon be assembled in Houston play a key role in powering Apple Intelligence, and are the foundation of Private Cloud Compute, which combines powerful AI processing with the most advanced security architecture ever deployed at scale for AI cloud computing. The servers bring together years of R&D by Apple engineers, and deliver the industry-leading security and performance of Apple silicon to the data center.
Apple says its new manufacturing academy in Detroit will help US companies transition to advanced manufacturing.
It says:
Apple engineers, along with experts from top universities such as Michigan State, will consult with small- and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques.
The academy will also offer free in-person and online courses, with a skills development curriculum that teaches workers vital skills like project management and manufacturing process optimization. The courses will help drive productivity, efficiency, and quality in companies’ supply chains.
Writing on his Truth Social site, the US president says Apple was making the investment because of “faith in what we are doing”, before thanking the company.
BREAKING: Trump celebrates the announcement by @Apple that the company will be investing $500 billion in the U.S. Trump said the reason Apple is doing this is simply, 'faith in what we are doing, without which, they wouldn't be investing ten cents.' pic.twitter.com/hu8Iur2yxw
Trump met with Apple’s CEO, TimCook, last week – after which he claimed Apple was planning to shift manufacturing from Mexico to the US, to avoid tariffs.
Apple announces plans to create 20,000 US jobs in $500bn investment splurge
Apple has announced a massive $500bn (£400bn) investment plan across the US over the next four years.
The tech giant is planning to hire around 20,000 people, of which the vast majority will be focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.
Apple says it will expand its facilities, and hire more staff, in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington.
The plan includes building a new factory in Texas, doubling the size of its US Advanced Manufacturing Fund, opening a manufacturing academy in Detroit, and accelerating its investments in AI and silicon engineering.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future.
“From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”
Here’s a chart showing how the euro lost ground against the US dollar towards the end of last year, before a small pick-up this morning after the German election:
Sky News: Bain Capital targets £1bn listed defence group Chemring
Shares in UK defence company Chemring have suddenly jumped, following reports that it has received a takeover approach from private equity firm Bain Capital.
Sky News are reporting that in recent weeks BainCapital has lodged at least one proposal to acquire Chemring, which manufacturers products used in defence kit and by organisations including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
An initial bid “may have been tabled at 390p-a-share”, Sky adds. That would be around 9% more than Friday’s night’s closing price of 358p.
Shares in Chemring have jumped as high as 408p, up 15%, which suggests traders expect a higher offer.
Chemring designs, develops and manufactures “advanced expendable countermeasures” to protect aeroplanes, boats and land-based combat vehicles, supplying 85% of NATO air fleets and 60% of NATO naval fleets.
Chemring say they are also a “key supplier” to NASA, SpaceX and Martin-Baker, and supplied more than 230 parts on the Mars Perseverance mission.