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Apple Puts Over Half a Billion into Arizona Plant Opening

TMCnet Feature

November 08, 2013

Apple Puts Over Half a Billion into Arizona Plant Opening

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By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

The phrase “buy American, an American's work” doesn't quite ring as true as it once did, as there are simply fewer sources of items actually made in America. But a new push is putting a little more of that American manufacture to work as Apple is bringing a huge investment to Mesa, Ariz., that will not only bring with it a new plant, but also new jobs to the area.


Apple (News - Alert) has reportedly put up $578 million to GT Advanced Technologies Inc. to get hands on equipment necessary to work material in sapphire, which finds itself increasingly put into service in smartphone components like home buttons and camera lenses. But Apple didn't specifically note what components would be made at the Arizona plant, though this move is seen as part of a larger move overall to bring more manufacturing of Apple goods to the United States. One key example of this trend—beyond this new move at Mesa, Ariz.—is the release of a new Mac Pro system set for later this month that's assembled in the United States.

What's more, according to Apple's Kristin Huguet, not only will the plant bring a load of new jobs to the area, it will do so without taxing the area power grid to any significant degree. Huguet notes that the plant will “run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.”

That's good news on a lot of fronts, really; not only did GT Advanced Technologies—itself an American company located in Merrimack, N.H.—get a new and very substantial client, it also got a bit of a stock price bump besides, seeing shares go up to $10.24 in extended trading. Users, meanwhile, are likely to see still more uses for sapphire product, which is helpful in providing some major new value for users as the sapphire substrates can yield a transparent product that is also much more scratch-resistant than glass. That puts some extra durability—and thus usability—from things like fingerprint recognition windows.

Apple got a stock bump as well, and some exclusivity rights from GT Advanced Technologies as well as a valuable new point of public relations mojo. That's certainly a good bit of future-proofing on Apple's part; after years of issues at Foxconn and the like, bringing a little more business to American shores certainly couldn't hurt matters, especially considering how much Apple product is sold in the United States. The “home field advantage,” so to speak, seldom hurts and often pays off in one of the most valuable, yet intangible, coins of all: simple good will.

At any rate, it's more jobs in a time where jobs are tough to come by, and that's making the future just a little bit brighter for Apple, for Arizona, and for Apple users in general.




Edited by Alisen Downey


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