RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Tech giant Apple made a big announcement yesterday - not about a new phone or some i-gadget (ph). Instead, the company announced that it's going to increase investment in the U.S., building a new campus here and paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes because of money that it's bringing back into the country. So how much of this move has to do with the new tax law? NPR's Laura Sydell reports.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Apple's faced a lot of criticism for being an American company that isn't giving enough back to America. The announcement seems tailored to show the company is patriotic. It plans to bring back billions of dollars it's kept in tax havens overseas and pay about 38 billion in U.S. taxes. It's also announcing it will create 20,000 new jobs and build a new campus. Financial analyst Patrick Moorhead follows Apple.
PATRICK MOORHEAD: Here, Apple is just reinforcing all the taxes they pay, all the investments they are making in the United States to just balance out the conversation.
SYDELL: Apple has kept some $250 billion outside the U.S. CEO Tim Cook has been a critic of American tax laws. But under the new tax law, it can bring back the money at a reduced rate. Financial analyst Gene Munster thinks most of what Apple announced doesn't have to do with the tax break. For example, the company's new campus in the U.S. will house the technical support staff who speak with customers in the U.S.
GENE MUNSTER: They're testing and found that people really want to talk to somebody for support that's based in the country that they're calling from. And so Apple - U.S. is their biggest base, so they want to accommodate that.
SYDELL: Apple's announcement of a new campus also comes after Amazon made a big splash by promising to build a second headquarters somewhere in the country, and cities have been competing for it. Apple, too, has not announced where it will build its new campus. The latest announcement does coincide with political pressure and the new tax law. But analysts say in the end, Apple is the most valuable company in the world, and it can do what it wants when it wants. Laura Sydell, NPR News, San Francisco.
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