Apple and Corning Partner to Manufacture 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch Cover Glass in Kentucky

Apple and Corning partner to manufacture 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass in Kentucky, investing $2.5 billion. The project will increase Corning's workforce in Kentucky by 50% and create the world's largest smartphone glass production line. The partnership is part of Apple's broader commitment to spend $600 billion in the US economy over four years.

Apple and Corning have announced a significant expansion of their long-standing partnership, with Apple committing $2.5 billion to produce all of the cover glass for iPhone and Apple Watch units in Corning's Harrodsburg, Kentucky, manufacturing facility. This investment will result in 100 percent of the cover glass on these devices being manufactured in the United States for the first time.

The project will create the world's largest and most advanced smartphone glass production line at the Harrodsburg facility. Corning will dedicate this entire facility to manufacturing for Apple, which will increase its manufacturing and engineering workforce in Kentucky by 50 percent. Additionally, a new Apple-Corning Innovation Center will be established at the Harrodsburg plant to focus on the development and engineering of advanced materials and next-generation manufacturing platforms for Apple's future products.

This initiative is part of Apple's broader commitment to invest more than $600 billion in the U.S. economy over the next four years. This includes Apple's newly announced American Manufacturing Program (AMP), which aims to incentivize global companies to onshore production and manufacture more of Apple's critical components in the United States.

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, stated, "Corning is a storied American company, and we're thrilled to work together to build the largest and most advanced production line ever created for smartphone glass. Thanks to the power of American manufacturing, any customer anywhere in the world who buys a new iPhone or Apple Watch will be holding precision glass made right here in Kentucky. We're grateful to the President and his administration for their support for American manufacturing, and we're excited for the innovation this investment will unlock."

Wendell Weeks, Corning's CEO, added, "Apple is an amazing partner for American manufacturers like us, and together, we’ve innovated and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. We developed and made the glass for the very first iPhone in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 18 years ago. With this new multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple and the lighting of our most advanced manufacturing platform, we are hiring more people and bringing 100 percent of Apple’s cover glass needs for iPhone and Apple Watch to the original home of the innovation."

This announcement continues a partnership that has been in place between Apple and Corning since the launch of the original iPhone in 2007. The Harrodsburg, Kentucky, facility produces high-quality glass for Apple called Ceramic Shield®, which is the toughest in any smartphone and the result of years of innovation by Apple and Corning engineers working closely together.

Since the creation of Apple's U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund in 2017, Apple has invested nearly $500 million in Corning's Kentucky operations, with billions more spent on glass manufactured in the United States. Corning also provides raw materials used by another AMP company, GlobalWafers, which will use silicon from Corning to manufacture advanced bare wafers in the United States for the first time.

Apple has a long history of investing in the United States, creating opportunity and driving American innovation. Today, Apple partners with thousands of suppliers across all 50 states, supporting more than 450,000 supplier and partner jobs. In the next four years, Apple plans to directly hire 20,000 people in the United States, the vast majority focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.

References:
[1] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250806242885/en/Apple-and-Corning-partner-to-manufacture-100-percent-of-iPhone-and-Apple-Watch-cover-glass-in-Kentucky
[2] https://www.stocktitan.net/news/AAPL/apple-and-corning-partner-to-manufacture-100-percent-of-i-phone-and-hjdahbe8j9i4.html
[3] https://www.stocktitan.net/news/AAPL/apple-increases-u-s-commitment-to-600-billion-announces-american-4589kgwgh5fu.html