Texas jobs: How Apple's $600B investment will be spent in the Lone Star State

TEXAS - The tech giant Apple announced on Wednesday their $100 billion increase in commitment to production in America, bringing the total to $600 billion.

Here's a look at the increase in jobs and production coming to Texas as part of that commitment. 

Apple to increase American production

The $600 billion is planned to be spent on American production over the next four years as part of the ongoing effort to bring more silicon and computer parts fabrication to the states, avoiding reliance on outsourced manufacturing in countries overseas. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the $100 billion increase at a White House press conference on Wednesday, followed closely by a press release from the company breaking down where the dollars are heading. 

As part of the investment, Apple is launching the American Manufacturing Program, or AMP, which intends to make all iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass in the U.S., as well as create an end-to-end domestic silicon supply chain.

In total, Apple says the effort will create more than 450,000 jobs for Americans over the coming four years, no small number of which will go to Texas residents.

What they're saying:

"Today, we’re proud to increase our investments across the United States to $600 billion over four years and launch our new American Manufacturing Program," said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. "This includes new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we’re grateful to the President for his support."

Texas hosts Apple fabrication

One of the large partners in Apple's new commitment is Texas Instruments. According to the Wednesday release, the companies are expanding their partnership to turn bare "wafers," the main building block of a computer chip, and turn them into the final product. This work will largely be done at TI's new Sherman facility, using manufacturing equipment made in Austin, Apple says. 

That Austin-made equipment is to be produced by Applied Materials, which the release calls a "pivotal hub for manufacturing cutting-edge chip equipment."

Also in Sherman, GlobalWafers will be producing advanced 300mm wafers to be used in iPhones and iPads.

For use in Apple's Face ID and other tech for iPhones and iPads, Sherman-based Coherant has entered into a multiyear agreement to produce VCEL lasers. 

The release also mentions the July commitment to buying American-made rare earth magnets developed by MP Materials, which they note is the only fully integrated rare earth producer in the United States. The partnership will expand MP's flagship facility in Fort Worth.

New Apple campus in Austin

Construction continues on Apple's second campus in Texas' capitol city.

The release provided an update on the project, saying three buildings are currently under construction, including a new research and development lab space for Apple’s Hardware Engineering, Hardware Technology, and Software Engineering teams.

Texas efforts to increase chip production

Dig deeper:

In the 2023 Texas Legislative Session, lawmakers passed a bill dubbed the CHIPS Act in an effort to combat a shortage of semiconductors that rocked American manufacturing through the beginning of the decade. 

The bill sought to attract new investments, secure lucrative federal grants and create thousands of high-paying jobs over the coming years.

As part of the plan, the expansion of Texas Instruments came about, UT Dallas opened a new research center to advance semiconductor technology, and other Texas-based manufacturers greatly increased their efforts in the race to move the supply chain to the states.