--- title: Apple iPhone Supplier Foxconn Plans U.S. Expansion description: A company that builds Apple products in China said it's considering a stateside expansion. canonical: https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/ author: Kerry Close article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-07T13:34:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:47.888Z article:section: Business og:title: The Company That Makes Apple’s iPhones in China Wants to Expand to the U.S. og:description: As Donald Trump, TIME's Person of the Year, calls for more U.S.-based manufacturing jobs og:url: https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1ae01f0d368a32/6988b20f8fd2eeede93551a4/gettyimages-147238295.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: This photo taken on May 27, 2010 shows C og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Company That Makes Apple’s iPhones in China Wants to Expand to the U.S. twitter:description: As Donald Trump, TIME's Person of the Year, calls for more U.S.-based manufacturing jobs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1ae01f0d368a32/6988b20f8fd2eeede93551a4/gettyimages-147238295.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Company That Makes Apple’s iPhones in China Wants to Expand to the U.S. by [Kerry Close](/author/kerry-close/) ## Kerry Close Dec 7, 2016 1:34 PM CUT  A Foxconn employee works in a factory in China. A Foxconn employee works in a factory in China.STR—AFP/Getty Images by [Kerry Close](/author/kerry-close/) ## Kerry Close Dec 7, 2016 1:34 PM CUT Amid President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/?iid=toc "undefined")‘s push for manufacturing jobs to come and stay in the U.S., a company that builds Apple products in China said it’s considering a stateside expansion. Foxconn Technology Group, which manufactures the [iPhone](http://time.com/4592864/most-popular-iphone-apps-2016/ "undefined") and other products, is in preliminary discussions to branch out to the U.S., [the Wall Street _Journal_ reports](http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-warns-another-u-s-company-1480899497 "undefined"). The size of its U.S. investment has not been determined. The news broke just before Trump was revealed as the [2016 TIME Person of the Year](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-choice/ "undefined") on Wednesday. In a recent [interview](http://time.com/4591183/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-interview/ "undefined") with TIME ahead of his selection as Person of the Year, Trump said he’s encouraging Apple to bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S. “I said to Tim Cook, it’s my ambition to get Apple to build a great plant, your biggest and your best, even if it’s only a foot by a foot bigger than some place in China,” Trump said. Apple declined to comment. Apple is the largest customer of Foxconn, which focuses on electronics assembly. The company also invests in sectors like robotics and health care. Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. companies that send manufacturing jobs overseas, something Apple has not said it plans to do. The tech giant employs tens thousands in the U.S., many at its Apple Store retail locations, and jointly operates a manufacturing facility for its Mac Pro computers in Austin, Texas with the Taiwanese firm Flextronics. It’s unclear if Apple manufacturing jobs would be the ones moved to the U.S. as a result of the potential Foxconn expansion. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/"},"headline":"The Company That Makes Apple’s iPhones in China Wants to Expand to the U.S.","datePublished":"2016-12-07T13:34:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:47.888Z","description":"As Donald Trump, TIME's Person of the Year, calls for more U.S.-based manufacturing jobs","url":"https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/","keywords":["Companies","Tech","Apple","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1ae01f0d368a32/6988b20f8fd2eeede93551a4/gettyimages-147238295.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kerry Close","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kerry-close/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f1ae01f0d368a32/6988b20f8fd2eeede93551a4/gettyimages-147238295.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This photo taken on May 27, 2010 shows C","caption":"This photo taken on May 27, 2010 shows C","creditText":"STR—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4593514/apple-foxconn-donald-trump-time-person-of-the-year/","name":"The Company That Makes Apple’s iPhones in China Wants to Expand to the U.S."}}]}] ```