Apple will pay $50 billion in foreign cash taxes

Apple will open a new campus as part of a five-year US$30 billion (S$39.6 billion) US investment plan and make about US$38 billion (S$50.2 billion) in one-time tax payments on its overseas cash.

It is one of the largest corporate spending plans announced since the passage of a tax cut signed by US President Donald Trump.

The company has been under increasing pressure to make US investments since Mr Trump targeted the iPhone maker for making products in Asian factories.

While Apple has announced no plans to change that practice, and experts say it would be economically impractical to make iPhones in the US, the company has begun to emphasise its US economic impact, from developers who sell software on its App Store to the tens of billions of dollars a year it spends with US suppliers.

Between the spending plan, hiring 20,000 people, tax payments and business with US-based suppliers, Apple on Wednesday estimated it would spend US$350 billion in the US over the next five years.

It did not, however, say how much of the plan was new or how much of its US$252.3 billion in cash abroad - the largest of any US corporation - it would bring home.

In addition to the US$38 billion in taxes it must pay, Apple has run up US$97 billion in US-issued debt to pay for previous share buy-backs and dividends.

Mr Trump called Apple's move a victory for his efforts.

"I promised that my policies would allow companies like Apple to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States. Great to see Apple follow through as a result of tax cuts," he tweeted.- REUTERS