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Apple's iPhone, iPad 'engine' made in U.S., says Cook

iPhone and iPad have some key U.S.-made components, according to Apple's CEO.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
The glass for the iPhone is made in Kentucky at Corning facilities.
The glass for the iPhone is made in Kentucky at Corning facilities. Corning

Foxconn may assemble the iPhone and iPad in China, but key components are made in the good ol' USA, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, speaking today at the D10 conference.

"This is not well known...but the engine for the iPhone and the iPad are built in the U.S. in Austin, Texas," Cook said.

Cook is almost certainly referring to Samsung's Austin chip plant, where the A5 -- and presumably the newer A5X -- chips are made.

"The glass is made in a plant in Kentucky," he added, referring to the Corning's Gorilla Glass facility.

These are points worth making as Apple has been primarily identified with Asia-based Foxconn in the production of the iPhone and iPad.

And that has been a sticky issue for Apple as the U.S. grapples with high unemployment, which is partially the result of U.S. companies outsourcing more and more production to China.

Cook also talked about how manufacturing in the U.S. was a challenge because of the lack of tool-and-die manufacturing expertise, according to Reuters.

"On the assembly piece, could that be done in the U.S.? I hope so, again, one day," he said.