by Tim Pearce
Apple is investing $1 billion to nearly double its workforce in Texas and is hiring thousands more employees in offices across the U.S., the company announced Thursday.
Apple is adding 5,000 positions to its Austin, Texas, campus on top of the 6,200-strong workforce already there. The tech company is also establishing campuses in San Diego, Seattle and Culver City, California, employing about 1,000 people each. Hundreds more jobs will be added to other offices in places such as New York, Pittsburgh and Boulder, Colorado, by 2022.
Apple’s announcement is relatively quiet compared to Amazon’s decision to build headquarters in Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia. The local and state governments at each location offered Amazon incentives worth millions of dollars. Dozens of other locations across the U.S. competed for Amazon’s attention with tax credits, infrastructure investment and other favors.
President Donald Trump gave credit to Amazon for and owner Jeff Bezos for the antics.
“I think they’re paying a very big price,” Trump said of Arlington and New York City in a November interview with The Daily Caller. “It was a competition. I know all about those competitions. I’ve been in those competitions — a lot of cities were competing for it. They took the best deals, you know?”
Apple’s investment announcement did not mention any special deals, if any were made at all. The planning was done much more quietly than Amazon’s public campaign inviting cities to bid for their investment.
“Apple has been a vital part of the Austin community for a quarter century, and we are thrilled that they are deepening their investment in our people and the city we love,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Tim Pearce is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Tim Pearce on Twitter.
Photo “Tim Cook” by Apple, Inc.
