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topicnews · July 15, 2025

Apple just spent $ 500 million in order to obtain a material that is of crucial importance for iPhones from the USA

Apple just spent $ 500 million in order to obtain a material that is of crucial importance for iPhones from the USA




Cnn

Apple is investing 500 million US dollars in a deal with MP materials of the US -Seltenerden, while the iPhone manufacturer is facing President Donald Trump's pressure to produce his popular smartphones in Germany.

As part of the partnership announced on Tuesday, Apple undertook to buy rare -related magnet directly from MP materials to strengthen the US supply chain. Apple will also work with the company with a new one Recycling line in California that Recycled rare earth materials for use in Apple products are implemented.

The move is part of an investment of 500 billion US dollars that Apple announced at the beginning of this year to expand its US business, since the Trump management urges the production of onshore technologies and reduces the dependency on China. Rare earths that are of crucial importance for everything from smartphones via television and military jets were an important chip in the trade talks between Washington and Beijing. That is because China controls almost all processing of rare earths.

“American Innovation drives everything we do at Apple, and we are proud to deepen our investment in the US economy,” said Tim Cook, CEO from Apple, in a press release. “Rare earth materials are of essential importance for the production of progressive technology, and this partnership will help strengthen the supply of these important materials here in the United States.”

The establishment of MP Materials in Fort Worth, Texas will create new Magnet manufacturing lines especially for Apple products. The programs are expected to begin in 2027 and finally support “hundreds of millions of Apple devices” who support the “hundreds of millions of Apple devices”, are finally supported, “hundreds of million Apple devices”, “ According to MP materials. The materials are delivered in the USA and all over the world.

According to Apple, dozens of new jobs will create the expansion. Both companies will also offer training courses on the development of a US workforce for magical production.

China has a virtual monopoly for rare elements that are important components for everyday products, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat screen TVs. They are also of crucial importance for batteries in electric vehicles as well as for MRI scanners and cancer treatments.

The name is less common too A bit of a misconception. The materials can be found throughout the earth's crust, but are difficult and expensive to extract and process. China has the only devices required to process some of the different elements, and currently control 92% of global production in the processing phase.

While the MP MP Materials Apple Curry at Trump could help Trump in the middle of tariff threats, it also agrees to the efforts of Apple To include more recycled materials in its products – a plan that took office long before Trump.

The iPhone 16E, which was introduced at the beginning of this year, contains, for example, 30 percent recycled content. According to Apple, recycled rare use it in its main products, including in magnets that can be found in the latest iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBook and Mac models.

The Trump administration has urged Apple and other technology giants to produce its products in the United States Instead of relying on assembly facilities and supply chains, which are mainly in China, India and Vietnam.

“I have announced Tim Cook from Apple a long time ago that I expect your iPhone to be sold in the United States of America that are built and built in the USA, not in India or elsewhere,” Trump wrote about the social of truth in May. “If this is not the case, a tariff of at least 25% of Apple must be paid to the USA.”

Apple has not planned to move the iPhone production to the USA, and it seems unlikely. This is because the tech giant has to build the most lucrative product.

Expandation expertise

The cooperation between Apple and MP Manufacturing includes the development of the talent pool required for the magical production. This is one reason why it is so difficult to bring iPhone production to the USA – America lacks the highly specialized work that is required for this, according to experts.

“The know -how to produce each of the components must be edited for a longer period of time,” David Marcotte, Senior Vice President of the International Market Research company Kantar, told CNN.

In the past, Cook has also talked about the Labor gap and described the workforce in China as a combination of “craftsmen”, “demanding robotics” and “computer science world” at a Fortune magazine event in 2017.

But the obligation to invest in rare earths in the United States will probably be liked Trump. The President advertised the former announcement of Apple as a victory in his efforts to promote American production.

Apple is just one of many tech giants that have expanded their American footprint in the past few months. Texas instruments committed 60 billion US dollars for the production of semiconductors in the USA in June, and the Taiwanese chip -making giant TSMC invested 100 billion US dollars in the US production in March. The leading AI chip maker Nvidia also said that it would build its supercomputers in the USA in April.

– Chris Isidore from CNN contributed to this report