Apple signs multi-billion dollar deal with chip giant Broadcom

Apple announced Wednesday, May 24, that it has signed a "multi-billion dollar" and multi-year contract with U.S. semiconductor maker Broadcom, as the iPhone maker tries to diversify its suppliers out of China. In particular, Broadcom will design and build components that are used to capture 5G, the fifth generation of mobile telephony. Production will take place at various U.S. locations, including Broadcom's Fort Collins, Colorado facility.

"All of Apple's products depend on technologies developed and built here in the United States, and we will continue to invest in the U.S. economy because we believe unwaveringly in America's future," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. The company says the announcement is part of Apple's 2021 commitments to invest $430 billion in the U.S. economy over five years, from suppliers to spending on computer servers.

The world's largest company by market value is looking to diversify its operations out of China, on which it is highly dependent for its supply chain. Strict policies to combat the Covid outbreak last year slowed production, and ongoing diplomatic tensions with the United States, which controls exports of high-tech components, are not helping.

iPhone 14 will be built in India

Tim Cook assured that Apple enjoys a "symbiotic" relationship with China during a visit in March in Beijing to attend an event organized by the state, with personalities of the entrepreneurial sector. But he also went to India in the spring to inaugurate one of the brand's first two stores in the world's most populous country. Last September, the Californian group said it would manufacture its latest iPhone 14 in India, and Foxconn, the Taiwanese tech giant and main assembler of iPhones, has just bought a huge piece of land on the outskirts of Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley.

In March, Apple also announced that it planned to invest one billion euros over the next few years in its Munich site, dedicated to the development of electronic chips. This expansion in Germany is part of its strategy to increasingly develop chips used in its smartphones, computers, tablets and other connected devices.

A year ago, the Cupertino company introduced the M2 chip, a new homemade electronic chip. By the end of 2020, it had launched a new line of laptops equipped with its own chip, the M1, instead of Intel's, marking the beginning of a two-year transition.