News: Optoelectronics
7 May 2021
II-VI gains extra $410m from Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund
Building on an initial $390m awarded in 2017, Apple has announced a further $410m award from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund for optoelectronic component maker II-VI Inc of Saxonburg, PA, USA. The expansion of Apple’s long-standing relationship with II-VI will create additional capacity and accelerate the delivery of future components for iPhones, with 700 jobs in Sherman, Texas; Warren, New Jersey; Easton, Pennsylvania; and Champaign, Illinois.
II-VI manufactures vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) that help to power Face ID, Memoji, Animoji and Portrait-mode selfies. Apple also works with II-VI to manufacture lasers used in the LiDAR (light detection & ranging) scanner — technology that helps to deliver faster, more realistic augmented reality (AR) experiences and improves autofocus in low-light scenes in photos and videos.
Apple began working with II-VI in Sherman, Texas, in 2017 as part of its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which helped to transform a long-shuttered 700,000ft2 building into a high-tech manufacturing facility and created hundreds of local jobs. Through close collaboration with Apple engineering and operations teams, II-VI has rapidly increased production in the past year to enable record shipments from the Sherman facility.
Picture: Apple has been working with II-VI’s facility in Sherman, Texas, since 2017 to produce laser technology used in iPhones.
“We established Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund to support American businesses creating next-generation technology and the jobs of tomorrow,” says Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams.
“The partnership between Apple and II-VI sets the stage for a new wave of breakthrough technologies that we believe will enable a wide range of applications that will benefit our world for decades to come,” believes II-VI’s CEO Dr Vincent Mattera Jr. “We are incredibly grateful for Apple’s support, which has allowed us to expand our manufacturing capacity and scale our operations across the US.”
II-VI is a part of Apple’s Clean Energy Program, which was designed to advance the use of renewable energy across the company’s supply chain, and is already using 100% renewable energy across all of its Apple manufacturing in the USA.
Apple’s expanded partnership with II-VI is part of the firm’s plans to invest $430bn and add 20,000 new jobs across the US over the next five years. Apple’s contributions include working with more than 9000 suppliers across the country who are supporting American job creation across dozens of sectors, including silicon engineering, 5G and manufacturing.
To support innovation and high-skilled manufacturing jobs across the USA, Apple established its Advanced Manufacturing Fund in 2017. The $5bn fund has supported a number of projects to date, including $450m in awards to Corning Inc in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, which led to the creation of Ceramic Shield, a new material that’s tougher than any other smartphone glass.
