Apple Plans to Pour $500 Billion Into US as Trump Tariffs Loom—But Not Everyone Buys It

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ake significant investments in the US,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in his official X account. “Today, we’re announcing a $500 billion commitment to support American innovation, advanced manufacturing, and high tech job creation.”

Apple’s announcement happens in the middle of a complex geopolitical scenario. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10% tariff on Chinese imports and threats of a 25% tariff specifically targeting chips may impact Apple’s business. With this massive announcement, Apple may be working to insulate itself from trade tensions that could dramatically affect its supply chain and product costs. Jobs met with Trump in the White House on Feb. 20, one of several major tech leaders who have been trying to cultivate their relationships with the president.

The White House was quick to post the news, saying it was an American Victory:

According to an official press release, a 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility planned for Houston will produce hardware that powers Apple Intelligence, the company’s personal AI system. These servers, Apple said, were previously manufactured outside the U.S.

Apple also promised to double its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, with expansion plans for Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington.

The company’s focus on the U.S.-based AI server production also comes amid a race to stay relevant in the industry, with competitors worldwide making their own massive investments in AI.

Despite a brief FUD period after the release of DeepSeek, most of the big names in the American AI scene have announced massive investments in infrastructure. Microsoft is already a key partner in Project Stargate, a $500 billion initiative to boost AI infrastructure, Google announced a $75 billion budget for capital expenditures aimed at sustaining its growing AI business during its last earnings call, and Meta is planning to spend over $65 billion to boost its AI offer.

In Asia, competition is also heating up with Alibaba planning to invest $53 billion in AI infrastructure before 2028 and Huawei developing hardware and software capable of challenging Nvidia’s monopoly of both the chip industry and the CUDA technology to build AI applications.

“A bit unrealistic:” Not everyone believes Apple’s claims

The ambitious investment plan has drawn significant skepticism from financial and industry analysts who question both the scale and authenticity of Apple’s commitment.

James Canos, founder of an investment management company Kynikos Associates, cast doubt on the feasibility of the investment relative to Apple’s current financial position. “Apple’s current capital base is less than $160B,”he tweeted. “Any serious discussion of a $500B capital deployment is a bit…unrealistic” Canos said.

Others highlighted that the announcement might actually represent a decrease in spending when adjusted for inflation. For example, Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of the high-tech research and advisory firm Moor Insights & Strategy, criticized the company’s framing of the numbers.

“Apple assumes we’re all idiots. April 2021: Apple commits to $430B over 5 years. February 2025: Apple commits to $500B over 5 (sic) years,” Moorhead wrote in a now deleted tweet.

“Assuming inflation from ’21 to ’25 is around 18.8%, this is a REDUCTION of real spend of nearly $11 billion. Apple is just playing fast and loose the same way they communicate benchmarks. $AAPL,” he wrote.

Others, however, seem to feel the announcement as nothing but political maneuvering.

“I can’t help but think that Apple is getting ahead of potential China and Taiwan tariffs. (Tim cook) has successfully navigated many administrations. Now, that is Apple Intelligence. We’ll see if the administration buys it,” Moorhead wrote in another tweet.

The job creation claims also raised eyebrows among financial analysts. Matt Stoller, a financial analyst and researcher at economicliberties.us, questioned the economics behind Apple’s projections. “Apple is announcing it will invest $500 billion in the U.S. and create 20,000 jobs. That’s $25 million per job. I smell bullshit.!” Stoller said.

Want a new MacBook Air? You may want to wait

Apple is also rumored to be preparing to debut new MacBook Air models featuring its latest M4 chip. Expected next month, these laptops will likely showcase improved performance and efficiency, particularly for AI workloads. The M4 chip is anticipated to enhance machine learning capabilities to support Apple Intelligence features across macOS.

The new models will come in the traditional 14- and 15-inch sizes and—if the expectations about being powered by an M4 are true—will be better prepared for AI tasks, with 1.5x faster CPU performance over the M2 processor and about 1.8 times faster than the original M1 chip. It will be nearly on par with the latest generation iPad Pro.