In an interview with "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer on CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company will invest $1 billion to create manufacturing jobs in the United States.
The investment will come in the form of an advanced manufacturing fund that will likely receive approval from President Donald Trump.
Apple's $1 Billion Investment In US Manufacturing
"We're announcing it today. So you're the first person I'm telling," Cook told Cramer, adding that Apple is already in talks with a company that will receive the first investment from the fund. The announcement of the investment will be made within the month.
Cook also said that Apple is still looking at other initiatives, including expanding the employee base of the company and providing tutorials to people on writing computer code.
"By doing that, we can be the ripple in the pond," Cook continued. He said that if Apple succeeds in increasing the number of available manufacturing jobs in the United States, those jobs will lead to the creation of more jobs as a service industry builds up around them.
Cook also noted Apple's expenses of $50 billion over the previous year that was spent on materials from U.S.-based manufacturers, including adhesive products from 3M and glass products from Corning.
Apple is also focusing on the creation of jobs and investments in the developer community, with more to be announced in the summer, most likely at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference. Cook said that Apple will also be spending to empower the next generation of developers.
Apple Looking To Gain Favor With Trump?
During his campaign, one of the biggest promises of Trump was that he would bring back manufacturing jobs into the country. In fact, in January 2016, Trump said that if he wins the election, he would force Apple to manufacture its products in the United States instead of elsewhere such as in China. Out of all of Apple's products, only the Mac Pro is manufactured entirely within the country.
The announced $1 billion investment to create manufacturing jobs in the United States could be Apple's attempt at gaining favor with the Trump administration. In November, Trump offered Apple incentives if the company would choose to manufacture its products domestically, and it seems that Apple will now look for the current administration to follow through on that promise.
Apple could also be looking to win favors in Washington to be able to deal with controversial national issues such as immigration, which largely affects the tech industry.
What Else Did Cook Say?
In his "Mad Money" interview, Cook also stated Apple's plans of doubling its services category by 2020. Included in the category are the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple Music, iCloud, and iTunes, and Apple is looking to make expansions on current services and introduce new ones. Cook said that the new services may be related to television and original content.
Cramer also asked Cook if there is an Apple product on the way that will "knock us out." Cook, of course, did not give a definite answer, but did state that Apple is currently very interested in artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
