Apple has struck a multi-year, multi-billion dollar deal with chipmaker Broadcom for components to be manufactured in the US, as US-China trade tensions grow.
The deal will see Apple and Broadcom develop 5G radio and wireless connectivity components in the US, as part of Apple's commitment to spend $430bn with US suppliers and manufacturers over five years.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said: “We’re thrilled to make commitments that harness the ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit of American manufacturing. All of Apple’s products depend on technology engineered and built here in the United States, and we’ll continue to deepen our investments in the US economy because we have an unshakable belief in America’s future.”
The company said it was “on pace” to meet its $430bn target. It added that the “cutting-edge” components from Broadcom would be manufactured in facilities across the country.
US-China relations have grown increasingly tense over the past year, after the US blacklisted several Chinese aerospace companies.
Last week, China announced it had banned products from US chipmaker Micron from being used in its infrastructure projects, citing “serious network security risks” to China’s national security.
The decision prompted the chair of the US House of Representatives' committee on China, Mike Gallagher, to call for trade curbs on Chinese memory chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies.
Gallagher said the US “must make clear to the People's Republic of China that it will not tolerate economic coercion against its companies or its allies”.
The White House previously announced that companies looking to benefit from the administration’s $53bn CHIPS Act would be banned from building advanced technology facilities in China for the next decade.
Meanwhile, the US and Taiwan last week reached an agreement on the first part of their "21st Century" trade initiative, covering customs and border procedures, regulatory practices, and small business, which proponents say will strengthen economic connections between the nations.
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