Trump's $499 smartphone will likely be made in China
The Trump Organization's newly announced smartphone will most likely be made in China, experts say, despite claims that the device will be manufactured in the U.S.
Owned President Donald Trump, the company on Monday announced the T1, a gold-colored device that it said would retail for $499. The smartphone will run Google 's Android operating system.
The Trump Organization says the phone will be 'built in the United States' — but experts note the phone was most likely designed and would be manufactured by a Chinese firm.
'There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S.,' Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corp., told CNBC on Tuesday. 'That is completely impossible.'
Jeronimo suggested that the phone would most likely be produced by a Chinese original device manufacturer, or ODM — a type of company that designs and manufactures products based on the specifications of another firm.
'Despite being advertised as an American-made phone, it is likely that this device will be initially produced by a Chinese ODM,' Blake Przesmicki, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, said in a note Monday.
Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint Research, added that 'the U.S. does not have local manufacturing capabilities readily available.'
Smartphone manufacturing came into focus after Trump threatened tariffs on devices imported into the U.S. While those have yet to materialize, the American president has poured scrutiny on Apple 's supply chain, urging the iPhone maker to manufacture its flagship handset in the U.S. The call is part of a broader desire from Trump to see more manufacturing of electronics be undertaken in the U.S.
Several experts have noted that manufacturing iPhones in the U.S. would be nearly impossible and would certainly raise the price of the product substantially. On top of that, getting large-scale manufacturing off the ground in the U.S. would take several years.
Phone will need foreign components
Even if some manufacturing of the device were done in the U.S., smartphone supply chains are global, and handset components come from several countries.
The Trump Organization's T1 is no different. While no information has been revealed on particular components, the specifications could give a hint of what to expect.
The device will have a 6.8-inch AMOLED display, a kind of screen that is made primarily by South Korean firm Samsung. LG, another South Korean firm, also produces the screen, as does Chinese firm BOE.
For comparison, Apple's top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch display and starts at $1,199.
At T1's $499 price point, the smartphone will most likely use a processor from Taiwanese firm MediaTek, which would be manufactured in Taiwan. If the device were to contain a Qualcomm chip instead, that would also most likely have to be made in Taiwan.
The phone's advertised 50-megapixel camera will meanwhile require image sensing chips — a market that is dominated by Japanese firm Sony for smartphones. There are smaller players in China and elsewhere.
The device's memory is one area that could use American technology, potentially from Micron, which manufactures its components in the U.S. But other players, like Samsung, could be potential suppliers.
'Even when there is local manufacturing available, the company will have to rely on components that are being imported from outside the U.S.,' Counterpoint Research's Fieldhack said.
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Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oklahoma strives to become American hub for critical minerals processing
LAWTON, Oklahoma, June 18 (Reuters) - Nestled beneath Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains sits a two-story warehouse containing the only machine in the United States capable of refining nickel, a crucial energy transition metal now dominated by China. The facility, owned by startup Westwin Elements, aims to help Oklahoma become the epicenter for U.S. critical minerals processing, a sector the country largely abandoned decades ago. The state will have to overcome several obstacles to get there, including a lack of major critical mineral deposits, a weak education system and its location at the center of the United States - far from international shipping lanes. Yet Oklahoma's push into minerals processing marks an unexpected twist in the country's efforts to wean itself off Chinese rivals who have blocked exports. President Donald Trump has said he wants to boost U.S. production of minerals used across the economy. In Oklahoma, the country's only nickel refinery, its largest lithium refinery, two lithium-ion battery recycling plants, a rare earths magnet facility, and several electronic waste collection facilities are under construction or in operation - more than in any other state. They join a Umicore ( opens new tab site that produces germanium crystals for solar panels. An aluminum smelter - the country's first since 1980 - is set to break ground next year at a site bordering an Arkansas River tributary. "I've strategically made a conscious effort to go after some of these new industries that I think are going to be critical," Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, told Reuters. "There's money flying into critical minerals from the investment side, so it might as well be located in Oklahoma." Investors and corporate executives say the state's location, lack of mineral deposits, and other detracting factors are outweighed by a string of positives: Oklahoma has railways and highways bisecting the state en route to the three U.S. coasts, a workforce with deep energy experience, state rebates and other financial incentives, a large inland port with access to the Mississippi River watershed, and accommodating regulators. Officials boast on social media that Oklahoma is a "one phone call state," a description meant to evoke what they see as a streamlined regulatory process. Australia-based MLB Industrial, a startup that supplies lithium-ion batteries to the locomotive industry, expanded its business to Oklahoma earlier this year for that very reason. "Other states were looking for a large, established company to invest, rather than a company with a growth profile," said Nathan Leech, MLB's CEO, who moved his family to Oklahoma. "We intend to grow in Oklahoma." A nickel refinery, in particular, has been sought by Washington for years but Chinese market dumping had scared away would-be entrants, said a source familiar with the Trump administration's minerals policy. KaLeigh Long founded Westwin and named it after her desire for the U.S. to shake off Chinese minerals dependence - as she puts it, "The West will win." The firm has built a demonstration facility 85 miles (137 km) south of the state capital that it says can refine 200 metric tons of nickel annually and will expand to produce 34,000 metric tons per year by 2030. If successful, the Westwin facility would refine 10% of America's annual nickel needs, demand projections from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence show, drawing on rock taken from Turkish and Indonesian mines, as well as recycled U.S. batteries. Even as Oklahoma promises state tax rebates and other incentives, Westwin is lobbying Washington not to eliminate a federal production tax credit heavily opposed by Republicans along with other green energy subsidies enacted by former President Joe Biden, as Reuters reported earlier this month. Westwin is in negotiations with the Pentagon for a nickel supply deal that would keep metal inside the United States to make batteries for military drones and other equipment, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. Roughly 220 miles (354 km) northeast, a lithium refinery under construction from Stardust Power (SDST.O), opens new tab aims to produce 50,000 metric tons of the battery metal per year, about a fifth of what the U.S. is expected to need by 2030. Japan's Sumitomo (8053.T), opens new tab signed a preliminary agreement in February to buy up to half of the facility's output. Stardust aims for the plant to filter lithium from brines - something that has yet to happen at commercial scale - and will have roughly the same capacity as Tesla's (TSLA.O), opens new tab refinery under construction in Texas. It will be powered in part by renewable energy; nearly half of the state's electricity is generated by wind turbines. "That was a huge draw," said Roshan Pujari, Stardust's CEO. The company is pushing forward even after rival Albemarle (ALB.N), opens new tab paused plans to build a large U.S. refinery, citing weak lithium prices. "During these down cycles is the best time to be developing, because why do we want prices to be high when we have nothing to sell?" Pujari said. USA Rare Earth (USAR.O), opens new tab, which went public earlier this year, chose Oklahoma over Texas for its rare earths magnet facility given what it felt was the personalized support from Stitt and other officials, said CEO Josh Ballard. Magnets made from rare earths turn electricity into motion for EVs; the U.S. stopped making them in the 1990s. Ballard says the facility is slated to open early next year and initially produce 1,200 metric tons annually, enough magnets to build more than 400,000 EVs. That supply is already highly sought after in the United States since China placed export restrictions on rare earths in April. Ballard said he has been fielding "a lot of phone calls" since April from prospective customers. The company on Tuesday signed a preliminary supply agreement with Moog (MOGa.N), opens new tab for magnets used in AI data centers. "We can do this quickly. It's just a matter of how do we do it, and can the government help be a catalyst?" said Ballard. The company could get a boost from legislation introduced earlier this month by three U.S. senators - including Oklahoma's Markwayne Mullin - that would provide a tax credit for roughly 30% of the cost to manufacture a magnet made from rare earths. Elsewhere, two Oklahoma battery processing facilities - from Green Li-ion and Blue Whale Materials - will break down lithium-ion batteries into copper and other building blocks for new batteries. Natural Evolution, in Tulsa, is spearheading a push to expand electronic waste recycling. Green Li-ion, which has a recycling facility in Atoka - Country music star Reba McEntire's hometown - has held talks with Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab as well as Westwin about buying a recycled version of battery scrap known as MHP, or mixed hydroxide precipitate, that can be used to make nickel products, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Glencore declined to comment. Most of the country's recycled batteries are exported now to China in the form of black mass, essentially shredded battery parts. Green Li-ion, which is headquartered in Singapore, moved its U.S. operations to Oklahoma given the state's history with oil and gas extraction, skills it sees as complementary to black mass processing. "This state has a lot of chemical engineers," said Kevin Hobbie, the company's senior vice president of operations. Oklahoma's foray into the energy transition hasn't been all smooth sailing. Tesla supplier Panasonic (6752.T), opens new tab in 2022 chose Kansas over Oklahoma for a battery plant after the Sunflower State wooed it with $1 billion in incentives. In January, EV startup Canoo ( opens new tab filed for bankruptcy despite a $1 million state grant and Stitt's commitment for his administration to buy 1,000 of the company's vehicles. Canoo, which had several production facilities in Oklahoma, blamed uncertain demand for its cargo vans. State officials say they are trying to recoup the funds. Stitt said he is not bothered by the bankruptcy. 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"If I create competition, and now a public school has to compete for a student, it's going to make all boats rise and bring more talent to Oklahoma," Stitt said. The governor said he is focused on helping the minerals refiners in his state grow and is lobbying Trump to require federal contractors to increase the percentage of minerals they buy that are processed in the country. That's a key desire also for Long, the Westwin founder, who spent her youth herding cattle, an experience she said inspired her interest in refining and a reticence for mining. "After seeing the beef and meat industry, I learned that the packer is the one that seems to take the least amount of risk and yet makes the most amount of money," she said. "When I saw mining, I was like, 'The miner is the rancher and the refiner is the packer.' So I decided I want to be the packer."
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Insight: Clean energy has fans in Trump's America, complicating budget talks
June 18 (Reuters) - In an industrial building in the Salt Lake City suburb of Clearfield, Utah, long strips of U.S.-made steel were fed through machines that punctured, bent and cut them into rods that will soon hold solar panels on rooftops. Next door, workers with rivet tools assembled the pieces into finished products, bundled them into packages with "Made in the USA" stickers and wheeled them onto trucks to be delivered to a customer 800 miles (1,300 km) away in San Diego. The adjacent factories, run by solar racking company PanelClaw, are among the dozens that have popped up since 2022 to meet soaring demand for American-made clean energy equipment incentivized by tax credits in former President Joe Biden's climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Republican-led states like Utah have captured 75% of manufacturing investments supported by the law, even though no member of the party voted for it, according to think tank Energy Innovation. 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Curtis visited PanelClaw's facility last year, praising it for creating jobs in his state. And more recently, he highlighted the benefits of the IRA subsidies at a Tooele County factory that makes batteries to store power on the grid. The company behind the factory, Fluence Energy (FLNC.O), opens new tab, an energy storage company backed by industry giants Siemens ( opens new tab and AES (AES.N), opens new tab, invested $700 million in manufacturing facilities in Utah and other red states, including Texas and Tennessee. "We can't cut the legs off of these enterprises," Curtis said in a statement. "Doing so would damage Utah's economy, put America's energy future in jeopardy, and weaken our national security. We must take a reasonable, responsible approach to energy tax credits." rPlus Energies, which is building the $1.1 billion Green River Energy Center solar and battery project in Emery County, said changes to the credits would threaten its 15-gigawatt pipeline. Green River will add $55 million over 20 years to the tax base for a county historically reliant on coal, and the credits will keep the price of power low, according to rPlus CEO Luigi Resta. "This is a great project," Resta said. "It's a poster child for the benefits of the IRA in Republican states." Clean energy is nothing new in Utah. Nearly a fifth of the electricity comes from renewable sources, primarily solar, and about 9% of homes are powered by solar panels. Tom Mills, who has sold residential solar in the state since 2014, said some homeowners are seeking environmental benefits while others just want to be self-reliant. "This topic crosses party lines," he said. Park City-based Alpenglow Solar, where Mills serves as technical sales director, would have to downsize its 18 employees if incentives for residential solar are eliminated, he said. Utah was the fourth fastest-growing state in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Utah County, just south of Salt Lake City, accounted for more than a third of that growth and needs revenue to fund new schools. Amelia Powers Gardner, one of the county's three commissioners, said she backs solar power because it can be built quickly - in half the time needed for natural gas plants - and attract revenue-paying data center owners like Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab that want clean power. "I am a Republican," Gardner said. "I would be fine building a gas-fired power plant. But in this case, modular nuclear or solar power - those things can help solve our problems." In Utah, the IRA credits have generated $3 billion in investment, with an additional $10 billion in announced projects, according to Energy Innovation. Nationwide, the IRA has generated $132 billion in announced investments in major energy projects, according to clean energy business group E2. Nearly two-thirds of those investments are in Republican Congressional districts, and the largest beneficiaries include North and South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas. "I don't think people necessarily went out of their way to think, 'Oh, I'm going to build these things in red states,'" said Fluence's Americas President John Zahurancik. "That's just where the demand is." U.S. solar stocks have slumped on the proposed credit phase-out although some analysts remain skeptical of whether Congress will pass the bill in its current form before Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline, which could open a window for solar and wind industry lobbyists. The Senate Finance Committee preserved tax credits for hydro, nuclear, and geothermal energy through 2036 after companies urged it to save them. One of the companies, Fervo, backed by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy, is constructing an advanced geothermal energy plant in tiny Milford, Utah, that will start supplying customers, including Southern California Edison (EIX.N), opens new tab and Shell Energy (SHEL.L), opens new tab, with power next year. "The Senate Finance Committee's markup of the OBBB (One Big Beautiful Bill) appropriately recognizes the valuable role burgeoning firm, clean energy resources like geothermal play in cementing American energy dominance," said Sarah Jewett, Fervo's vice president of strategy. The plant's construction has been a boon to the local economy. Milford Mayor Nolan Davis advocated for the project to replace jobs lost when pork producer Smithfield Foods (SFD.O), opens new tab cut ties with hog farms in the area. Melissa Wunderlich, a lifelong Milford resident, used to own one of those farms. These days she owns a drive-through diner that is generating more than half of its sales by feeding workers at the Fervo plant. "I've catered for the governor, I catered for Bill Gates," Wunderlich said. "Fervo has been really good."
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
FTSE 100 rises after positive inflation data; focus on Fed, BoE meetings
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