Apple has signed a new billion-dollar deal with Broadcom to supply 5G components manufactured in US factories.
Broadcom is going to be years away According to Apple Manufactures components for wireless connections in the US, including FBAR filters used by iPhones and other Apple devices to process mobile signals. It is about ‘Advanced Components for Wireless Connections’.
Longtime Apple supplier Broadcom will manufacture FBAR filters at its Colorado plant, where it provides more than 1,100 jobs.
Investments in the US economy
Apple has pledged to invest $430 billion in the US economy over five years through 2021. The New Deal is part of that. Apple says it is on track to meet its investment goal.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the company has “unshakable confidence in America’s future.” The iPhone maker is trying to become less dependent on China for manufacturing in several ways.
Suppliers are Broadcom and Qualcomm
Apple is Broadcom’s largest customer, accounting for about 20 percent of the manufacturer’s revenue. By comparison: rival Qualcomm gets 22 percent of its annual revenue from the iPhone maker.
Broadcom also makes a component for Apple devices that handles both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functions, and a so-called RF front end for managing wireless signals. Apple uses modem chips from Qualcomm.
Apple prefers to make its own parts
Apple wants to use more and more of its own components in its devices, and is also working on its own Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips, for example, which according to Bloomberg will only be ready in 2025. At that time, Apple wanted to prepare the first native modem chip for the iPhone.
Its own RF component will take even longer, and Apple Broadcom will depend on it for years to come. Meanwhile, it also emerged that Apple is developing its own screens.
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