CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple and Corning today announced a major expansion of their long-standing partnership to make precision glass for Apple products. Apple is making a new $2.5 billion commitment to produce all of the cover glass for iPhone and Apple Watch in Corning's Harrodsburg, Kentucky, manufacturing facility. This means that 100 percent of the cover glass on iPhone and Apple Watch units sold worldwide will be made in the U.S. for the first time.
Corning is creating the world's largest and most advanced smartphone glass production line at the Harrodsburg facility. Corning will now dedicate this entire facility to manufacturing for Apple, which will help increase Corning's manufacturing and engineering workforce in Kentucky by 50 percent. The two companies will also open a new Apple-Corning Innovation Center at the Harrodsburg plant. The Innovation Center will play a key role in the development and engineering of advanced materials and next-generation manufacturing platforms for Apple's future generations of products.
These projects are part of Apple's broader commitment to spend and invest more than $600 billion in the U.S. economy over the next four years. This includes Apple's newly announced American Manufacturing Program (AMP), which will invest across America and incentivize global companies to onshore production and manufacture even more of Apple's critical components in the United States.
"Corning is a storied American company, and we're thrilled to work together to build the largest and most advanced production line ever created for smartphone glass," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Thanks to the power of American manufacturing, any customer anywhere in the world who buys a new iPhone or Apple Watch will be holding precision glass made right here in Kentucky. We're grateful to the President and his administration for their support for American manufacturing, and we're excited for the innovation this investment will unlock."
"Apple is an amazing partner for American manufacturers like us, and together, we've innovated and pushed the boundaries of what's possible," said Wendell Weeks, Corning's CEO. "We developed and made the glass for the very first iPhone in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 18 years ago. With this new multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple and the lighting of our most advanced manufacturing platform, we are hiring more people and bringing 100 percent of Apple's cover glass needs for iPhone and Apple Watch to the original home of the innovation."
This announcement continues a partnership that has been in place between Apple and Corning since the launch of the original iPhone in 2007. Today, the Harrodsburg, Kentucky, facility produces high-quality glass for Apple called Ceramic Shield. This advanced glass - the toughest in any smartphone - is the result of years of innovation by Apple and Corning engineers working closely together.
Since the creation of Apple's U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund in 2017, Apple has invested nearly $500 million in Corning's Kentucky operations, with billions more spent on glass manufactured in the U.S.
Corning also provides raw materials used by another AMP company, GlobalWafers, which will use silicon from Corning to manufacture advanced bare wafers in the U.S. for the first time. In that way, Corning also plays a key role in Apple's supply chain for producing advanced silicon chips in America.
Apple has a long history of investing in the U.S., creating opportunity and driving American innovation. Today, Apple partners with thousands of suppliers across all 50 states, supporting more than 450,000 supplier and partner jobs. In the next four years, Apple plans to directly hire 20,000 people in the U.S. - the vast majority focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.
