Apple will invest $390 million in Finisar Corp to increase production of the chips that empower the high-end iPhone X features like portrait mode photos, Animojis, and Face ID.
Finisar Corp is an optical component maker based in Sunnyvale of, California. Earlier today, its shares had risen 14 percent to $22 in premarket trade, which is quite supportive of Apple’s investment decision.
This is Apple’s second investment from its advanced manufacturing fund of $1 billion, as reported by the company. The fund aims at fostering innovation and creating jobs. The previous investment was back in May, and it amounted to $200 million for Corning Inc, the Gorilla Glass maker.
Coming back to Finisar, the company planned to use the investment to revive a 700,000-square-foot plant in Sherman, Texas. The purpose of the plant is to make high volumes of laser diodes named VCSELs or vertical-cavity-surface-emitting lasers.
Apple said it will purchase 10 times more VCSELs than previously made in the world over the same time span.
The Sherman facility of Finisar will start shipping products in the second half of the next year.
