Apple just made a lofty promise to the American economy.
The company said in a press release Wednesday that it plans to create 20,000 jobs and invest $30 billion in U.S. facilities over the next five years.
At least $10 billion of that $30 billion will go toward building new data centers — massive computer warehouses that store information to support services like Apple’s Siri, iMessage and Apple Music, the company said.
Apple already has such facilities in seven U.S. states. In August, the company announced plans to open a data center in Des Moines, Iowa that would cost $1.3 billion and create 550 construction and operations jobs.
The company also said Wednesday that it’s planning to open a new campus in a yet-to-be-disclosed location. It will “initially house technical support for customers,” according to the press release.
Apple said by 2023 it will employ 20,000 more people through hiring at the new facility and existing campuses.
That could increase the size of Apple’s workforce by more than 16%. As of September 30, 2017, the company employed about 123,000 full-time workers worldwide. About 84,000 of those employees are based in the U.S.
Apple claims these new investments combined with its “current pace of spending with domestic suppliers and manufacturers” will add about $350 billion to the U.S. economy over the next five years.
And, thanks to the new Republican tax law, Uncle Sam is about to get a big payday from Apple.
Revised tax rules say companies like Apple can no longer avoid paying taxes on past international profits by keeping the money outside the United States. They must pay tax whether they bring this cash back to the U.S. or not.
So, Apple says it will have to pay $38 billion in repatriation tax payments.
“A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made,” the press release says.
