Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer why his company is investing $2.5 billion to manufacture glass in Corning‘s Kentucky factory, praising the company’s technology.
“This is the place to put it,” Cook said of his investment in Corning. “I feel very confident in that, because when you look at innovation, when you look at the cost, when you look at the quality, these are all things that are factor into our decisions — this is a great place.”
Apple announced the lofty investment last month and said all glass for iPhones and Apple Watches would be manufactured in Corning’s facility. Corning has had a relationship with Apple for years — the manufacturer’s glass has been used in iPhones since its first iteration in 2007.
Cook pointed in particular to the strength of Corning’s “ceramic shield” technology, which he said is thin and light, but also durable.
According to Corning CEO Wendell Weeks, the new version of the ceramic shield is 50% stronger than the first version. Weeks also spoke with Cramer and Cook on Friday, and he said Apple’s investment would boost the factory’s workforce by 50%.
“This is going to become the world-leading manufacturing site for production of highly-specialized glass,” Weeks said. “We’re going to triple production.”
To Cook, domestic manufacturing can help create “a hub of economic activity in different places,” saying that factories themselves create jobs but also bolster local businesses. Weeks agreed and suggested Corning views its business as a “social contract” with the community. He spoke about the Kentucky plant’s evolution in innovating glass since it opened in 1952.
“When you walk around the factory, you’ll meet people who, they’re third generation Corning employees in this factory,” Weeks said. “But what the people today are doing has nothing to do with what their grandfather did.”
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