KY facility to make all glass covers for Apple iPhones, watches after $2.5B commitment
Apple is making a $2.5 billion investment in Kentucky. That means glass covers for every iPhone and Apple Watch sold around the world will be made in the commonwealth.
The significant investment will finance an advanced smartphone glass production line that’s expected to double the facility’s local manufacturing and engineering workforce. It’s the first time all Apple product glass will be made in the U.S.
New York-based Corning Inc.’s factory in Harrodsburg has an estimated 420 employees. It’s been making glass covers for Apple for the past 18 years. Since 2007, Apple has sold 3 billion iPhones, the majority of which were sold between 2016 and now, according to its most recent earnings call.
Corning will dedicate its entire facility to manufacturing glass for Apple, according to a news release from the tech company.
The two businesses also will open a new Apple-Corning Innovation Center at the plant in Harrodsburg that will play “a key role in the development and engineering of advanced materials and next-generation manufacturing platforms for Apple’s future generations of products,” Apple officials said.
The Kentucky investment is part of a total $100 billion Apple is putting into the U.S. economy and its effort to bring foreign jobs back to the US. As part of Apple’s American Manufacturing Program, the company has planned more than $600 billion worth of domestic projects over the next four years.
The history of financial commitment and the investment announced Wednesday come as President Donald Trump continues to push an aggressive tariff and trade agenda that’s generally aimed at moving some manufacturing back to the U.S. Last week, Apple said it took an $800 million hit due to tariffs in the most recent quarter ending in June. Assuming things stay the same, the company projected it would add more than $1 billion in costs in the third quarter.
In the earnings call, company officials said iPhones come from India and its MacBooks, iPads and Apple Watches are manufactured in Vietnam. Those same officials said the company continues to optimize its supply chain and some of that work includes Wednesday’s announcement.
“Corning is a storied American company, and we’re thrilled to work together to build the largest and most advanced production line ever created for smartphone glass,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the news release. “Thanks to the power of American manufacturing, any customer anywhere in the world who buys a new iPhone or Apple Watch will be holding precision glass made right here in Kentucky.”
Since 2017, Apple said it has invested more than $500 million in Corning’s Kentucky operations, with billions more spent on U.S.-manufactured glass.
“Apple is an amazing partner for American manufacturers like us, and together, we’ve innovated and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible,” said Wendell Weeks, Corning’s CEO.
“We developed and made the glass for the very first iPhone in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 18 years ago. With this new multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple and the lighting of our most advanced manufacturing platform, we are hiring more people and bringing 100 percent of Apple’s cover glass needs for iPhone and Apple Watch to the original home of the innovation.”
White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said in an email to the Herald-Leader Trump’s economic agenda has secured funding that supports jobs and bolsters businesses.
“Today’s announcement with Apple is another win for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national security,” Rogers said.
The area’s U.S. Rep. Andy Barr said it is “thanks to President Donald J. Trump’s tough trade policies and the Made in America tax credit in the Big Beautiful Bill that I supported, we are Making Manufacturing American Again.”
Mercer County Judge-Executive Sarah Steel called the investment a “wonderful opportunity.” She said Corning has been “a longstanding company and community partner” in Harrodsburg and that the area’s leadership was excited to support the project.
“Harrodsburg, Mercer, County and our Industrial Development Authority are thrilled by Apple’s landmark investment in our community. We’re also so excited to see a mainstay industry partner, Corning, take center stage in American manufacturing,” said Greyson Evans, the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Authority’s executive director.
It’s the latest splash of good news for Harrodsburg. In April, Earth Breeze, a company that makes laundry detergent sheets, opened its almost $6 million facility in the community, creating more than 225 jobs.
Cook joined Trump in the White House Wednesday for the announcement of its investment across America and said it will incentivize other companies to manufacture in the US. Apple is also building a factory in Texas for AI servers and working in Arizona on manufacturing phone and semiconductor chips.
Trump heaped praise on Apple’s decision to invest even more in Kentucky.
“Apple will massively increase spending on its domestic supply chain for the iPhone, and will build the largest and most sophisticated, smart glass production line in the world in Harrodsburg, Kentucky,” he said. “Which is great actually. I did very well there. I like it because I did very well there. I did very well in Kentucky. It’s a great place. You’re going to be very happy there.”
In the 2024 presidential election, Kentucky voted Republican for Trump by a wide margin for the third time in a row, with him winning the state by 30.53%. That’s a considerable increase from his 25.94% victory in 2020 and to a lesser extent his 29.84% victory in 2016.
He received about 1.34 million Kentucky votes, which was a record for votes cast for any candidate in state history.
Following the announcement, Kentucky’s longtime Sen. Mitch McConnell said Apple’s investment in the Kentucky Harrodsburg factory “builds on their strong partnership and is a proud testament to the hardworking men and women at the facility.”
State Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, said she’s toured the facility and knows the $2.5 billion investment to be “powerful proof that world-class innovation thrives right here in the heart of the Bluegrass. ... At the center of this announcement is a belief in Kentucky’s place as a national leader in advanced manufacturing and technology.”
This story was updated to include the impact of tariffs on Apple’s second quarter, its projects for the third quarter and to add additional commentary from Barr, McConnell and Bledsoe.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM.
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