Apple plans $1 billion advanced manufacturing fund

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the company is investing in the U.S. manufacturing market — advanced manufacturing, to be specific — to the tune of $1 billion.

The reveal came during a recent on-air interview with CNBC in which tech legend Steve Jobs’ successor said Apple would launch a $1 billion fund to help bolster the area of manufacturing that includes auto, aerospace, energy, and medical equipment. Cook said the first investment from Apple would be announced later this month and emphasized the growth of manufacturing as creating a “ripple in the pond” effect for the remainder of the economy.

“Those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them because you have a service industry that builds up around them,” Cook said. Apple has grown from 5,000 U.S.-based jobs 20 years ago to approximately 80,000 today. While one of the major drivers of the tech market, the company has taken its share of criticism in the realm of manufacturing with most of its devices being manufactured offshore in China.

The U.S. manufacturing industry is broken into 21 individual sectors by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of April 2017, BLS reported that, all-combined, the sector employs close to 12.4 million of the country’s workforce.