Steve Jobs famously told President Obama that “those jobs aren’t coming back,” but Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook says the company now plans to bring some manufacturing back to the United States after all.
In an interview with Businessweek, Cook said Apple will invest $100 million toward bringing Mac production back to America in 2013. Cook cautioned that Apple will help create jobs only indirectly through investment, but he said the company was “really proud” to be part of the effort.
Apple has suffered persistent bad press over its overseas production, especially at troubled Foxconn plants. Slate’s Matthew Yglesias notes that rising costs of labor in China have made production there less attractive than it once was.
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview, Cook noted some final advice Jobs gave him when he took over: “I never want you to ask what I would have done,” he said Jobs told him. “Just do what’s right.”
