Apple invests $200m in iPhone glassmaker Corning

Apple made the first investment from its new $1 billion US "advanced manufacturing" fund into the multibillion-dollar company that has provided the iPhone's glass screen for the last decade.

Corning, a public company with a market capitalisation of $26 billion that was founded more than 165 years ago, will receive $200 million from Apple to help develop its facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

Gorilla Glass, Corning's hardened material that was put into production to supply the first iPhone in 2007, is manufactured in Kentucky, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to the company's website. Corning also has facilities around the world including Mexico and China, as well as the US.

Apple’s investment will be focused on research and development and capital investments in Kentucky, in the hopes of benefiting its own products while also making Corning more competitive in a global market.

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Corning’s shares were up less than 1 per cent on Friday morning at $29.04, while Apple stock hit a new record intraday high at $156.42, giving it a valuation of $817 billion.

Apple's pledge to invest at least $1 billion to stimulate American jobs and manufacturing, which was announced last week, came after criticism from President Donald Trump during last year's election campaign that it was so reliant on overseas manufacturing for the iPhone and its other products.

- (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017)