KY facility to make all glass covers for Apple iPhones, watches after $2.5B commitment

Apple is making a $2.5 billion investment in Kentucky. That means glass covers 

for every iPhone and Apple Watch sold around the world will be made in the 

commonwealth. The significant investment will finance an advanced smartphone

 glass production line that’s expected to double the facility’s local manufacturing

 and engineering workforce. New York-based Corning Inc.’s factory in Harrodsburg 

now has an estimated 420 employees. It’s been making glass covers for Apple 

the past 18 years. Since 2007, Apple has sold 3 billion iPhones, the majority of 

which were sold between 2016 and now, according to its most recent earningscall.

Corning will dedicate its entire facility to manufacturing glass for Apple, according 

to a news release from the tech company. The two businesses also will open a 

new Apple-Corning Innovation Center at the plant in Harrodsburg that will play

 “a key role in the development and engineering of advanced materials and 

next-generation manufacturing platforms for Apple’s future generations of 

products,” Apple officials said.

Since 2017, Apple said it has invested more than $500 million in Corning’s Kentucky 

operations, with billions more spent on U.S.-manufactured glass. According to the 

Harrodsburg Mercer County Industrial Development Authority. “Apple is an amazing

 partner for American manufacturers like us, and together, we’ve innovated and

 pushed the boundaries of what’s possible,” said Wendell Weeks, Corning’s 

CEO. “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.”

White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said in an email to the Herald-Leader

 President Trump’s economic agenda has secured funding that support jobs 

and bolster businesses. “Today’s announcement with Apple is another win 

for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the 

production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national

 security,” Rogers said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for Mercer County and

 this great commonwealth. We are extremely excited to support Corning and 

Apple in this endeavor. Corning has been a longstanding company and community partner,” 

said Mercer County Judge-Executive Sarah Steele.

“Harrodsburg, Mercer County and our Industrial Development Authority are thrilled

 by Apple’s landmark investment in our community. We’re also so excited to 

see a mainstay industry partner, Corning, take center stage in American manufacturing

,” added Greyson Evans, the authority’s executive director. It’s the latest splash

 of good news for Harrodsburg. In April, Earth Breeze, a company that makes laundry

 detergent sheets, opened its almost $6 million facility in the community, 

creating more than 225 jobs. Cook joined Trump in the White House Wednesday

 for the announcement of its investment across America that it said will incentivize

 other companies to manufacture in the US. Apple is also building a factory in Texas for AI servers.

Trump heaped praise on Apple’s decision to invest even more in Kentucky. “Apple 

will massively increase spending on its domestic supply chain for the iPhone, 

and will build the largest and most sophisticated, smart glass production line 

in the world in Harrodsburg, Kentucky,” he said. “Which is great actually. 

I did very well there. I like it because I did very well there. I did very well in Kentucky.

 It’s a great place. You’re going to be very happy there.” In the 2024 presidential

 election, Kentucky voted Republican for Trump by a wide margin for the third 

time in a row, with him winning the state by 30.53 percent. That’s a considerable

 increase from his 25.94% victory in 2020 and to a lesser extent his 29.84% victory in 2016.

He received about 1.34 million Kentucky votes, which was a record for votes 

cast for any candidate in state history.