WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to help develop telecommunications infrastructure for US 5G wireless networks.
Cook accompanied the president on Wednesday while touring the Apple Macintosh plant in Austin, Texas, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin.
Trump seemed upbeat about Apple's ability to build 5G networks by saying, "They have everything, money, technology, vision, cook," in the latest sign of a close relationship between the two most powerful American figures.
5G will provide data speeds of up to 50 or 100 times faster than current 4G networks and will serve as an important infrastructure for a range of industries.
Qualcomm is among the major US chip companies that help mobile phones connect to networks, while Cisco has a reputation for networking equipment.
However, mobile operators must upgrade their 5G networks with equipment made by companies such as Huawei, ZTE of China, Swedish Ericsson and Nokia Finland.
Trump said earlier that the United States intends to quickly deploy 5G services and plans to cooperate with "like-minded countries" to enhance security in 5G networks.
Washington is also pressing countries not to give Huawei access to 5G networks in the future, on the pretext that Beijing can use Huawei equipment to spy, which the Chinese company denied.
But how could Apple do the job of developing the US's 5G infrastructure while not yet introducing a phone using the technology in the smartphone market?
At the same time several major companies are launching their phones for the fifth generation, including its Korean rival Samsung in addition to Huawei.