Apple moves Mac manufacturing stateside

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, recently sat down for an interview on Rock Center with NBC’s Brian Williams. In the interview, Cook discussed the company’s plans to move production of one of the existing Mac lines exclusively to the U.S. next year, spending $100 million in the process. With an unemployment rate currently hovering just near eight percent— partly due to good-paying factory jobs being outsourced to countries such as China—the United States needs jobs that will put Americans back to work.

Cook told Williams, “We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States.”

In fact, in October we shared that the immensely popular iPhone contains a variety of minerals found right beneath our feet. At Molycorp’s Mountain Pass facility in California, the first of its kind in the United States, the facility focuses solely on mining rare earths, which are not only essential elements needed to produce the iPhone, but also other technologies that include wind turbines, hybrid cars and night-vision goggles.

According to NPR, Apple’s move could also help spur a new trend of domestic manufacturing. This will ultimately create much needed jobs and in turn strengthen our economy.

Watch the full interview on NBC.