Apple CEO Tim Cook is said to want to deploy a large-scale robotic arm system, a "key catalyst" for iPhone production in the US.
"I talked to Tim Cook, asked him when he would bring the iPhone to the US. He said I need robotic arms, which can do precision assembly at scale," US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC on April 29.
According to Lutnick, Apple is willing to spend $500 billion to build a manufacturing plant in the US. "Yes, they will do everything related to AI, supercomputers and extraordinary systems," he continued. "Americans will work in factories like that, great jobs, high salaries."
However, hiring could be difficult. "Americans won't work for the low wages that Foxconn pays iPhone assembly workers in China. Americans will run iPhone factories in the US. They won't assemble components," Lutnick said.
Apple has yet to comment.
According to PhoneArena, Tim Cook has a reason to mention robotic arms. These machines can do the tedious but highly precise assembly work. Besides, Apple won't have to worry about finding American workers willing to work for around $3 an hour, like at Foxconn's iPhone factory in China. Without robots, Apple could have to pay American workers double, according to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. At that point, the company could have had to raise the price of iPhones and many other products.
Previously, some experts predicted that iPhone prices could triple if they were manufactured in the US. "If you build a supply chain, say a factory in West Virginia and New Jersey, you're going to have a $3,500 iPhone," Dan Ives, director of technology research at financial services firm Wedbush Securities, told CNN.
Apple's entire manufacturing process relies on Asia, which has built a closed supply ecosystem that has helped drive down costs. The chips that power the iPhone are made in Taiwan, the display panels are supplied by South Korea, and many other components are made in China. China and India also assemble the iPhone.
In the interview, Lutnick also said TSMC "got the licenses they needed" on the morning of April 29 to build its semiconductor factory, Fab 1 and Fab 2, north of Phoenix.
TSMC did not comment.
On April 8, US President Donald Trump said he would impose a "massive tariff" of up to 100% if TSMC did not build a factory in the US. “Chip companies are very rich,” he said, referring to the CHIPS and Science Act signed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, which provides grants to companies to encourage them to open factories in the US. “They get billions of dollars to build a factory here.”
(according to CNBC, PhoneArena)