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One of the promises made by United States President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign was that more domestic manufacturers would start building their products locally, naming Apple as one of the companies that should make the iPhone in the States.
And now it appears that Trump’s promise is close to becoming a reality, as Foxconn, one of the biggest Apple suppliers, is planning a multi-billion investment in the United States that could eventually lead to building iPhones in the country.
Bloomberg reports that this disclosure came just after SoftBank Group announced that it would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs locally after a meeting with Donald Trump. A document that was held up by SoftBank’s CEO after the meeting included references to Foxconn and a $7 billion investment.
Foxconn originally said no
In a statement for the aforementioned source, Foxconn said that it was indeed pondering an expansion in the United States, but no specifics were available.
“While the scope of the potential investment has not been determined, we will announce the details of any plans following the completion of direct discussions between our leadership and the relevant U.S. officials,” Foxconn was quoted as saying. “Those plans would be made based on mutually-agreed terms.”
Previously, it’s been reported that Apple discussed the possibility of moving production to the United States with its suppliers, but they all refused to do it, citing the increased costs as the main reason.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, personally discussed the matter with Apple CEO Tim Cook and promised incentives that would allow the company to manufacture iPhones and other products in the United States.
At this point, it’s not yet clear if Foxconn and Apple would indeed rely on US production plants to make the iPhone, but if this is the case, it’s an important switch from the Chinese operations responsible for the manufacturing and assembling of all iPhones, iPads, and other Apple hardware.
An official statement in this regard is expected in the coming days, but neither Apple nor Foxconn wanted to share more details.