Trump says Apple will build three 'big' new plants in US

[jpak]

Source: BBC

President Trump told the Journal he had a phone conversation with Apple's chief executive Tim Cook.

"I spoke to (Cook), he's promised me three big plants - big, big, big," said President Trump.

Apple has declined to comment on the report.

President Trump told the Wall Street Journal during the interview that discussed a range of matters including tax reform, that Mr Cook had called him to confirm plans for the plants were "going forward".

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40723735

[still_one]

1. right, so now asshole is taking credit for Apple's business decisions. What a POS

[Blue_Tires]

2. Please... Trump's wall will be built long before

we ever see Apple break ground on an assembly plant in the U.S.

In China they can work employees around the clock for a fraction of the cost -- Apple isn't giving up that luxury unless they plan to pass all those costs on to the consumer

[reggaehead]

8. Well, Apple is building

A gigantic new campus in Cupertino. Of course that broke ground long before Chump was even nominated. They also are doing battery and chip research. If they get into battery production that will be here. The chip research will be r&d only. TMSC will likely do the production

[JDC]

27. That's right. They picked up a big chunk of HP campus

I'd forgotten about that

[politicat]

11. Most of the reason nobody makes phones in the US has to do with rare earth metals.

China has the stocks the rest of the world has limited supplies. China doesn't permit export of the raw material; it has to be processed into capacitors and chips. Thus, this is why China has a near global lock on electronics manufacturing right now.

That said, Apple does have a fab in Texas and they make the Mac Pro there. It's not imposssible.

But we need to find other sources of tantalum and coltan, or other means that don't rely on those.

[xor]

20. What's the deal with rare earth materials anyway?

I read that despite them being called rare earth materials, they aren't really all that rare. I need to find a good source to read up on why China has so much more than everyone else.

[politicat]

24. It's the concentration to make the mining worthwhile.

Here's a longer summary, specifically about coltan, but applicable to many of the REEs: http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/problems/humanrights.html

Essentially, though, let's take a fictional metal, unobtanium. It's very common in the earth's mantle, but because it's heavier than granite and melts at a lower temperature and is very good at alloying with other metals, it tends to stay in the mantle. (This is the case for most of the REEs.) We don't have the ability to drill that deep, so we only have access to those metals and earths when the mantle is close to the surface, such as in geologically active areas, which can be difficult to mine, since a mine in an earthquake zone is prone to cave-in. Since it alloys well, we have to smelt what we can reach and divide the metals out, which takes energy and large scale industrial infrastructure. Which means start-up capital, which means we can't build that infrastructure for half a percent.

We don't need a lot of unobtanium for each individual application -- milligrams to single digit grams -- but the unobtanium is necessary because it keeps the application from blowing up. (Specifically, coltan, because tantalum is used to make capacitors that can manage a lot of stable energy, which is necessary for battery technology). A phone may have a dozen capacitors that only weigh 3 grams total, but the production run of that model of phone is 100,000, so the supply chain needs 300 kg for that single run. If the metal comes out of the ground at 2% unobtanium and 30% nickel and 35% iron and the rest is some mix of stuff we don't need or use (often thorium or other low-level radioactive material) we're having to mine hundreds of thousands of kilograms of somewhat radioactive stuff, which all has to be mined with radioactive protocol, and treated as such. So when we've got a source of 40% unobtanium, it's a lot safer for everyone in the supply chain.

It's not that they're all that rare -- but they're not iron or tin. Or even gold or aluminum.

The big reason China has the resource is they put money into developing the mining infrastructure and devoted labor resources to it. It's not come easily, they have massive issues with it, but they managed to make it work long enough to make other mining operations non-competitive. And China is physically enormous -- slightly larger than the US, and straddles a plate union (the Himalayas are where two plates meet, and that means the mantle is close to the surface). China's got about 36% of the world's developed supply and about 8% of the world's landmass, so it's pretty easy to see how investment in the resource paid off.

[xor]

25. Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Reading that link, I am guessing that explains the 'conflict free' labels that show up on intel's website for processors and other components.

[politicat]

26. Exactly.

Not that Chinese sources are completely conflict free (organized crime and corruption at normal to high levels *for China*) but it's nothing like what's going on in Congo.

[EarthFirst]

3. "He's promised me..."

Did he also kiss the pinky ring on bended knee?

[kimbutgar]

4. The phones cost $700 to 800 made in China

They'd cost a lot more if built in the US. Thump is just making up insane shit now. The fact Cook is quiet tells you this bs.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Theoretically not that much more according to MIT in an estimate they did last year

https://9to5mac.com/2016/06/13/iphone-made-in-usa-cost/

But that doesn't mean they wouldn't try to be facetious and put a significant markup on them if that happened... Just. Because. Free Market™.

[DK504]

12. $25 to make an iPhone. Not surprising.

The obscene amount Apple charges for the phones is disgusting. That is the reason that stops me from buying any phone over $50 bucks. I have a computer and a Kindle, why the hell would I NEED an $800 phone with a $100 per month plan.

Apple and all "smart" phones makers are laughing their asses off at us for buying shit we don't need for prices that would feed the hungry in America. Apple and their 'need' to keep everything in the Bay Area is a bit over the top as well. They have help fuck up San Francisco, Palo Alto and San Jose with very little in return for the whole area.

It would be better for all involved if they moved to an area that would free up real estate, give them plenty of room to expand including creating a housing market. If they moved into a desert area they could have clllll the solar power they needed and ability to use wind. This is one of several companies that have taken over areas and have given little back, other than higher prices and a housing market no one can afford.

It's past time for these tech and manufacturing to step up to the plate and reimburse the states and country where they have been able to make this happen.

[dembotoz]

14. The phone I have is considered a burner phone cause it's cheap

Cost me a hundred
Works well enough for me.
Saw an article where my actual phone model was suggested for foreign travel because it was functional but wouldn't have all the personal information store on it when u went thru customs
Wonder if my phone now makes me suspect because it is cheaper

[kimbutgar]

18. I also have one of those cheap phones that I pay $24 every three months to keep active

My sister gave me her old iPhone 4 that I use as a mini iPad.

[xor]

21. heh. I stopped buying expensive phones years ago.

I find that $40 phones can do everything I need a phone to do. And if I break it or lose it, I don't end up crying myself to sleep for a week afterward.

[kimbutgar]

19. Ditto I have a cheaper pay as you go phone that costs me $24 every 3 months

I have my sisters old iPhone 4 that I use as an iPad. I refuse to put myself in debt for an expensive cell phone. But I am mad I didn't buy apple stock in the late 90's because it was so cheap. I met steve Jobs once and thought he was a big jerk and vowed to not buy any of his products. My sister brought me my iPad for my 60th birthday otherwise I wouldn't own one.

[Bengus81]

22. Yup...still using an LG flip phone from about 2004 for 30 bucks a month....

Using the Internet is done on my computer (which I built myself) and using a 43 INCH LG monitor. How big again is the screen on an iphone?

[awesomerwb1]

30. It does NOT cost $25 to make an iPhone lol

According to IHS, a market analyst, the components of an iPhone 6s Plus, which sells for $749, cost about $230.

Add assembly costs, transportation costs, marketing etc and it's not disgusting even though they make a very healthy profit.

"

It would be better for all involved if they moved to an area that would free up real estate, give them plenty of room to expand including creating a housing market. If they moved into a desert area they could have clllll the solar power they needed and ability to use wind. This is one of several companies that have taken over areas and have given little back, other than higher prices and a housing market no one can afford.

"

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/ugc/articles/2017/02/28/new-apple-headquarters-sets-records-in-solar-and-green-building.html

Desert area:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2016/09/20/apples-secret-solar-plant/90766180/

and

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3161732/sustainable-it/apple-to-build-200mw-solar-farm-to-power-data-center.html

[Retrograde]

31. Every time I walk past an Apple store

the first thought that pops into my head is "markups". All that floor space - vast, airy and largely empty - in a high-priced retail area doesn't come cheap. Not to mention the costs of building an ugly building to house it.

[Grins]

17. Let's not confuse "price" with "cost"...

Costs are real; price is what the market will bear/accept.

If the market pauses over price, it can be lowered (or raised if there is more demand), but cost remains the same.

[Yavin4]

5. It doesn't matter to Trump's supporters if Apple builds the plants or not

Since Trump said it, it's already happened and Trump is responsible for it happening. They're lost.

[George II]

7. Sure he did, donnie. Here are two of them:

[Thor_MN]

9. Complete with nets to keep the employees from jumping?

Oh wait, Trump doesn't believe in safety nets, jump away, disgruntled employees...

[nikibatts]

10. There is really something unseemly about a corporation making gazillion dollars from taxpayers

and refusing to work from the country that enables your obscene profits and refusing to pay taxes in that country.

They ought to be made to pay a tax on every item they sell in the USA. Not the taxes they consumer pays but tax on their profits.

[Mosby]

13. Apple ordered to pay $506 million to university in patent dispute

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered Apple Inc to pay $506 million for infringing on a patent owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's patent licensing arm, more than doubling the damages initially imposed on Apple by a jury.

U.S. District Judge William Conley in Madison added $272 million to a $234 million jury verdict the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation won against Apple in October 2015. Conley said WARF is owed additional damages plus interest because Apple continued to infringe the patent, which relates to computer processor technology, until it expired in December 2016.

Apple is appealing Conley's ruling, according to court papers. An Apple spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

WARF sued Apple in 2014, alleging processors found in some versions of the iPhone infringe on a patent describing a "predictor circuit," which improves processor performance by predicting what instructions a user will give the system. University of Wisconsin computer science professor Gurindar Sohi and three of his students obtained the patent in 1998.

Cupertino, California-based Apple denied any infringement during a 2015 jury trial and argued the patent is invalid. Apple also urged the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the patent's validity but the agency rejected that bid.

WARF brought a separate lawsuit against Apple in 2015, alleging chips in later versions of the iPhone infringe the same patent. Conley said he would not rule in that case until Apple has had an opportunity to appeal the 2015 jury verdict.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ip-apple-patent-idUSKBN1AB023?il=0

[NastyRiffraff]

15. Yet another stupid statement from Dump

For Chrissakes, IF Apple is building three big (big, big!) plants, it's been in the works for years. I'm willing to bet my Social Security that Tim Cook promised Dump nothing, if he even talked to him.

[SergeStorms]

16. The only things that are "big, big, big"......

are Trump's mouth, his ego, and and his narcissism. I'm willing to bet there are none bigger in the world.

[Bengus81]

23. Sure Trump,just like the Intel plants YOU took credit for............

In the planning stage and some construction done YEARS ago,but I think finished the third plant this year. So Butternut takes credit for the who thing.

Or how about massive cost saving cuts to the F35 fighter program?

“Some people call it alternative facts, I call it just flat-out exaggeration,” said Rep. Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat who supports the F-35 program. These cuts were already set to be put in place before Donald Trump even became president, and people have been talking about the costs of the F-35 for quite some time,” Veasey said. “The only thing Donald Trump did was spread fear and uncertainty through Fort Worth and cost the company billions of dollars when he made the stock prices go down.”

“The atrocity is not that he’s (Trump) taking credit for numbers already on paper, it’s that he’s taking credit for people who did really hard work that he would like to fire,” said Richard Aboulafia, a military aircraft analyst with Teal Group, a Northern Virginia based aeronautics analysis firm. The recent $600 million cuts to the latest F-35 contract are a product of increased orders for the planes. The cuts have been anticipated for years as Lockheed ramps up production.

A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment."

[Freethinker65]

28. IOW, called to tell Trump not to fuck things up or they might not build those 3 long proposed plants

[AJT]

29. Foxconn will be building a large plant in Wisconsin.

In Ryan's district.

[gilligan]

32. Yeah

Now companies can come here for cheap labor and no Unions.