Apple Strikes Multibillion-Dollar Deal With Broadcom for US-Made 5G Components

Published: 5/23/2023, 3:54:06 PM EDT

Apple Strikes Multibillion-Dollar Deal With Broadcom for US-Made 5G Components — A guest holds the new iPhone 14 at an Apple event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2022. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

In a Tuesday press release, Apple Inc. announced a new partnership with Broadcom for the development and manufacture of key 5G radio frequency components in the United States.

The collaboration will require Broadcom to develop cutting-edge wireless connectivity components and 5G radio frequency components, including FBAR filters—a kind of advanced radio frequency filter often used in cell phones.

The FBAR filters will be designed and produced in several U.S. manufacturing and technology sites, including Fort Collins, Colorado, where Broadcom operates a major facility.

“We’re thrilled to make commitments that harness the ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit of American manufacturing,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “All of Apple’s products depend on technology engineered and built here in the United States, and we’ll continue to deepen our investments in the U.S. economy because we have an unshakable belief in America’s future.”

According to Apple, the multiyear partnership with Broadcom is part of its 2021 announcement to invest $430 billion in the U.S. economy over five years.

As it stands today, the company is “on pace to meet its target through direct spend with American suppliers, data center investments, capital expenditures in the U.S., and other domestic spend.”

Broadcom is a long-time supplier of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies for Apple’s iPhones.

In January, a Bloomberg report discussed rumors that Apple was developing its own in-house Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip to replace the ones supplied by Broadcom. The company was also said to be designing a new iPhone modem to replace the current Qualcomm models. According to Bloomberg, the homegrown components were expected to debut as early as 2025.

Apple has also been working on its own versions of other iPhone components, such as wireless charging components, which are currently supplied by Broadcom.

According to the press release, Apple already helps support more than 1,100 jobs in Broadcom’s Fort Collins FBAR filter manufacturing facility. The new partnership will help Broadcom to continue to invest in critical automation projects and in upskilling technicians and engineers.

“5G technology is shaping the future of next-generation consumer electronics—and Apple is spending tens of billions of dollars to develop this field in the U.S.,” the company said.

Apple introduced 5G technology in its devices in 2020, and since then, the company has been pushing to expand and expedite 5G adoption in the United States and abroad.

The press release said that the number of jobs created and supported by Apple in the United States currently exceeds 2.7 million.

Under the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act signed by President Biden last August, the United States is providing $52.7 billion in subsidies for companies that research, develop, and manufacture chips domestically. The U.S. Commerce Department will begin allocating the money next year.