Apple Spent $60B on 9,000 American Suppliers in 2018, Supporting 450K Jobs - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Spent $60B on 9,000 American Suppliers in 2018, Supporting 450K Jobs

Well timed with a report from The New York Times today that explained why Apple is unlikely to manufacture more of its products in the United States, Apple has published a press release highlighting how several components it uses are manufactured by U.S. suppliers such as Finisar, Corning, and Broadcom.

apple finisar

Finisar

Apple says it spent $60 billion with 9,000 American component suppliers and companies in 2018, an increase of more than 10 percent from the year before. Apple says this spending supports more than 450,000 jobs in the United States.

This includes VCSELs for Face ID on the iPhone X and newer at Finisar in Texas, iPhone and iPad display glass at Corning in Kentucky, water-resistance testing at Cincinnati Test Systems in Ohio, and wireless chips at Broadcom, Qorvo, and Skyworks in Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusetts respectively.

Since 2011, the total number of jobs created and supported by Apple in the United States has more than tripled from almost 600,000 to two million across all 50 states, the company says. Apple profiled a few of its supplier employees in its press release, providing a closer look at their operations.

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
imac video apple feature

Apple Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever This Year

Wednesday July 29, 2026 12:03 pm PDT by
Apple this year acquired Israeli startup Q.ai for close to $2 billion, according to the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone maker Beats in 2014. This is also the largest known Apple acquisition since the company purchased Intel's smartphone modem business and patents for $1 billion in 2019. Q.ai...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Thursday July 30, 2026 6:12 am PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...

Top Rated Comments

98 months ago
Tim Cook puts a much higher priority on PR and image than Steve Jobs did.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
98 months ago
This type of corporate PR is kind of tiring. Yes, big companies like Apple have an important role in employment, but ultimately the key driver of it is consumer demand and not altruism about providing a certain number of American jobs. The "job creator" thing is past it's shelf date.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
98 months ago
Jeez, so Apple was responsible for supporting 17% of the 2.6 million job increase in 2018 ('https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ceshighlights.pdf')—albeit their support didn't go to the new jobs entirely. That's pretty crazy.

[SPOILER="Old Corrected Comment"]Jeez, so Apple was responsible for 17% of the 2.6 million job increase in 2018 ('https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ceshighlights.pdf'). That's pretty crazy (or I'm very bad interpreting government statistics reports).

Corrected here ('https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/27040932/') and here ('https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/27040937/').[/SPOILER]
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
98 months ago
I don’t think Apple highlights the US spending of it’s suppliers and contractors enough. Foxconn seems to be the only “well known name”.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calzon65 Avatar
98 months ago
Apple is a master at public relations. They have so many convinced that they are some kind of loving, caring, altruistic company, it makes the stomach turn. :rolleyes:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigBoy2018 Avatar
98 months ago
Jeez, so Apple was responsible for 17% of the 2.6 million job increase in 2018 ('https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ceshighlights.pdf'). That's pretty crazy (or I'm very bad interpreting government statistics reports).
Apples spending ‘supports’ 450,000 jobs.
It didnt ‘create’ 450,000 new jobs.
[doublepost=1548693674][/doublepost]
More like spent $60 billion to exploit workers for profit...
Huh? So all those people who willingly took jobs at Apples american factories, where they get union wages are being ‘exploited’?
Unless you’re saying asking people to actually do work for money is ‘exploiting’ them, I fail to see what you’re saying.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors