19.05.2023 • News • Photonics

Apple investments with European suppliers top 20 billion euros

The tech giant's suppliers in Europe range from large multinational companies to small family-owned businesses.

Apple’s spend with European suppliers has increased more than fifty percent since 2018, totaling 85 billion euros over the past five years and more than 20 billion in 2022 alone. The investments reach more than four thousand European suppliers and support cutting-edge innovations that can be found in every product the company makes, from sensors in Apple Watches, to lasers in iPhones, to microcontrollers in Macs. These investments are also helping advance the green transition of European industry, as Apple is committed to achieving carbon neutrality across its supply chain by the end of this decade. Through these investments and the iOS app economy, the company now supports more than 2.6 million European jobs.

STMicroelectronics has been powering its Apple-related operations with 100...

Apple’s spending with European suppliers has increased by more than 50 %...

Trumpf manufactures high-tech components that have been used for a number of...

“Europe’s spirit of innovation and incredible talent brought Apple here more than forty years ago, and the region’s contribution to our products has never been stronger,” said Cathy Kearney, Apple’s vice president of operations. “Our deep partnerships with European suppliers have helped create breakthrough technologies, and we’re proud to work closely with suppliers across Europe as we advance our mission to decarbonize our entire global supply chain.”

Trumpf, is a global leader in industrial lasers, machinery, and technology. The company’s high-tech components have been used for a number of Apple products, including a small laser to enable a proximity sensor for iPhone that turns off the screen when it detects an object that is close by – such as when a user holds iPhone up to their ear – saving power and preventing inadvertent touches. To date, the family-owned technology company headquartered in Ditzingen has manufactured and delivered more than one billion of these small lasers to Apple.

STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor company with strong roots in France and Italy, develops and manufactures chips that contribute to the industry-leading performance and incredible efficiency of Apple devices. For many years, the company has worked with Apple teams on sensors, power management, and wireless integrated circuits for iPhone and other Apple products. STMicroelectronics employs more than 27,000 workers across its European operations, and is investing more than 3.5 billion euros in 2023 to increase its manufacturing capacity globally, including in France and Italy, where it also manufactures components for Apple devices. This new expansion of manufacturing capacity will support Apple’s future needs for microcontrollers as well as wireless, analog, and mixed-signal integrated circuits. STMicroelectronics has been powering its Apple-related operations with one hundred percent renewable energy since 2021.

Austrian chip manufacturer AMS is one of the latest European companies to join Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program. Companies like DSM Engineering Materials in the Netherlands, Infineon in Germany and Austria, and Solvay in Belgium are supporting a range of renewable energy solutions, such as wind projects and onsite solar and innovative structures like virtual power purchase agreements. Of the European manufacturing partners committed to clean energy, eight are already achieving one hundred percent renewable electricity for their Apple production – including Viscom and Victrex. Robert Bosch, which recently joined Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, and Varta Microbattery are achieving one hundred percent renewable electricity through green utility power. (Source: Apple)