Apple Provides Welfare for Finisar, Invests $390 into Company to Ramp Up Production of Chips

Money can do wonders for people, in this case Apple. They could easily buy FNSR and keep operations humming along; but they’d rather just throw some cash at them in order to keep manufacturing going at a steady pace instead of having to deal with managing a poorly run company.

Apple this morning announced the second investment from its $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund, committing $390 million to Finisar.

As a result, Finisar will transform a shuttered, 700,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, into a high-tech facility developing VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) chips. These chips enable depth and proximity sensing, helping to power some of Apple’s new features including Face ID, Animoji, and ARKit, which is the set of tools that allow developers to create augmented reality apps.

There are three VCSELs in every iPhone X. VCSEL chips also are used in Apple’s AirPods.

The new facility is expected to open in the second half of next year.

“VCSELs power some of the most sophisticated technology we’ve ever developed and we’re thrilled to partner with Finisar over the next several years to push the boundaries of VCSEL technology and the applications they enable,” Jeff Williams, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement.

Jerry Rawls, Finisar’s CEO, added, “When you combine our proven ability to consistently manufacture exceptional products with our new state-of-the-art Sherman facility, we’re confident we can achieve our shared goal of providing consumers with incredibility exciting features.”

Apple’s investment will also create more than 500 jobs at the new Sherman facility including engineers, technicians and maintenance teams.

Literally welfare.

Shares of FNSR are higher by 27% in the pre-market and we down 36% for the year before this news hit.