Apple will invest $450 million in satellite network and ground stations to power Emergency SOS, which is the service for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, as a part of its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, according to an official announcement.
Most of the funding will head to Globalstar, the satellite provider with which Apple has an existing partnership to deliver Emergency SOS which is set to officially launch later this month.
“The launch of Emergency SOS via satellite direct to iPhone is a generational advancement in satellite communications, and we are proud that Globalstar’s satellites and spectrum assets will play a central role in saving lives,” Globalstart executive chairman Jay Monroe said in a statement. “With Apple’s infrastructure investment, we’ve grown our teams in California and elsewhere to construct, expand, and upgrade our ground stations, and we look forward to the next chapter in Globalstar’s lifesaving technology.”
According to CNN, Apple’s investment is one of the largest to date out of its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, and which the company has used for suppliers including Corning, Finisar, XPO Logistics and Copan Diagnostics with over $1.4 billion dollars combined.
Apple says that over 300 Globalstar employees will work on the service.
