Apple invests $410M in II-VI to improve some features
Tech powers AR, Face ID functions
Apple is investing more than $400 million in Saxons-burg-based II- VI to help power popular iPhone features like Face ID, augmented reality experiences and portrait mode selfies.
II-VI makes engineered materials and optoelectronic components that are used in a wide range of applications, including autonomous vehicles, 5G, aerospace and defense projects, and different components for Apple’s iPhones.
Apple announced the $410 million award Wednesday to increase capacity and accelerate development of future smartphone technology.
“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,” II-VI CEO Vincent Mattera Jr. said in a statement.
Already, the company’s lasers are helping to power Face ID, the facial recognition software that unlocks the device, as well as “memojis,” animated faces that use an individual’s voice and mirror their facial expressions. iPhone users can do the same thing but with animals through its “animoji” feature, which II-VI also helps to run.
The lasers also help make augmented reality experiences more realistic and improves autofocus for lowlight scenes in photos and video, company officials said.
The partnership between Apple and II-VI began in 2017, when Apple awarded the tech company $390 million.
That investment helped II-VI transform a 700,000square- foot building in Sherman, Texas, into a high-tech manufacturing facility.
The most recent investment will create 700 jobs but none of the open positions will be at II-VI’s Saxonsburg headquarters.
The company is creating positions in Sherman, Texas; Warren, N.J.; Champaign, Ill.; and Easton, Pa.
Apple’s investment comes from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, a $5 billion initiative it started in 2017 to support local manufacturing companies and create local jobs.
The award is also part of its broader plan to invest $430 billion and create 20,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next five years.