Advanced manufacturing. Image: knyazevfoto/Shutterstock
Apple is to create a $1bn fund to develop advanced manufacturing jobs in the US ahead of the so-called ‘robot takeover’.
Despite sales of iPhones taking a dip the past quarter, Apple’s financial might remains unchallenged, with $257bn in cash reserves that, in theory, could allow it to buy some major players in Silicon Valley.
However, Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed that $1bn of this will be going towards a new fund designed to grow the number of advanced manufacturing jobs in the US.
Aside from allaying fears of the ‘robot takeover’ of manufacturing jobs, as automation and artificial intelligence increases substantially by the year, companies such as Apple are facing the reality of life under US president Donald Trump.
Even before his election in November last year, one of Trump’s key messages has been to keep manufacturing jobs within the US.
Speaking with CNBC, Cook said that it has already begun discussions with one company to receive a portion of this new fund.
Cook added that he hopes Apple can spur on other major corporations in Silicon Valley, and elsewhere in the country, to partake in similar efforts to grow these jobs.
“By doing that, we can be the ripple in the pond,” he said.
“Because, if we can create many manufacturing jobs … those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them because you have a service industry that builds up around them.”
Apple prepares for legal battle
Meanwhile, Apple is gearing up for yet another lawsuit after its decision last month to end its collaboration with UK company Imagination Technologies, which supplied its iPhones’ graphics processing units (GPUs).
In the wake of the announcement, Imagination Technologies’ share price entered free fall by as much as 70pc, with the majority of its revenue coming from Apple.
Now, Imagination Technologies has revealed it is entering a “dispute resolution procedure” with Apple, having failed to strike a deal that would keep the latter using its chips.
Advanced manufacturing. Image: knyazevfoto/Shutterstock
