Apple has today announced that it is committed to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including 20,000 U.S. jobs and a new factory in Houston, Texas.The $500 billion headline figure is not all new, with much of what is promised in the announcement having been pledged before. The news is clearly aimed at satiating the Trump administration, with Apple perhaps hoping it will be enough to get tariff exemptions on its products.Apple described the sum as its largest-ever spending commitment. The announcements follows comments from President Trump over the weekend, who said he had met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and hes investing hundreds of billions of dollars. A new facility in Houston, Texas will manufacture servers that will help power Apple Intelligence. The servers will form part of the Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. The new factory will open in 2026, with a footprint of more than 250,000 square feet. Apple says these servers were previously assembled outside of the United States. It will also continue to expand data center capacity in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada.Apple is also doubling the U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which it says supports world-class innovation and high-skilled manufacturing jobs across America. The fund will increase from $5 billion to $10 billion. The fund incorporates Apple investments such as supporting the new TSMC fab in Arizona, which will manufacture some Apple silicon chips.Apple will also hire more than 20,000 people over the next four years, an increase of several thousand from its previously-pledged figure. The jobs will revolve around R&D, silicon, software development and artificial intelligence.Apple is also opening a new Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. Experts from Apple and top universities will work with small and medium-sized businesses on how to implement AI and smart manufacturing methods in their supply chains. The academy will also free in-person and online courses. Tariffs threaten to increase the price of Apple products, ultimately hurting sales through lower demand. During the last Trump administration in 2016, Apple managed to mostly escape the impact of tariffs by getting exemptions on most of its products, especially the iPhone. It is clearly hoping to garner favor and get Trump to agree to similar exemptions this time around. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel