Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for a chat with CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday, and during the interview, Cook revealed the company has created a $1 billion manufacturing fund intended to stimulate job growth in the United States.
“We’re announcing it today. So you’re the first person I’m telling,” Cook told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer on Wednesday. “Well, not the first person because we’ve talked to a company that we’re going to invest in already,” he said, adding that Apple will announce the first investment later in May.
Cook told Cramer the capital backing for the fund will come from Apple’s U.S. investment pool. Apple spent $50 billion on manufacturing over the last year. That includes sourcing materials from 3M (adhesive) and Corning (iPhone and iPad glass).
“We’re really proud to do it,” said Cook. “By doing that we can be the ripple in the pond, because if we can create many manufacturing jobs, those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them.”
The move comes in the face of political pressure from President Donald Trump’ administration to spur companies such as Apple to produce their products in the U.S. rather than foreign countries such as China.
The fund is in addition to Apple’s $1 billion investment in SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund, which was created to accelerate the development of technology around the globe. Around $50 billion of the Vision Fund is expected to fund U.S.-based initiatives.
