Apple CEO Tim Cook hails company's "deep connection" with UK as figures show it's invested £18 billion since 2019

Apple CEO Tim Cook has hailed the company's "deep connection" with the UK as it continues its expansion efforts across the country.

Cook's comments follow the publication of figures by Apple showing it has doubled the size of its engineering workforce in the UK over the last five years.

The tech giant has also invested more than £18 billion in the country during that time.

"We’ve been serving customers in the UK for more than 40 years, and we’re proud of our deep connection with communities across this country," Cook said.

"We’re thrilled to be growing our Apple teams here, and to keep supporting the extraordinary innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of technology in so many ways."

The tech giant now supports 550,000 jobs through direct employment, its supply chain, and the iOS app economy, according to a recent announcement.

Its engineering teams in London, Cambridge, and elsewhere are working on support for key technologies in Apple Intelligence, such as Siri’s deep integration into Apple products, and Private Cloud Compute.

There are also UK teams working on silicon engineering, along with services like Apple Music and Apple TV+, where production has tripled in the last two years alone.

According to Apple, the UK boasts the largest developer community in Europe.

Since the launch of the tech giant’s App Store in 2008, developers across the country have earned nearly £9 billion from selling digital goods and services, it said

The company also highlighted its educational programs, including The King’s Trust, which it has since helped to expand its STEAM programming to every region across the country through the organisation’s Achieve programme.

Apple continues its UK expansion

Last year, Apple launched a major recruitment drive in the UK, looking specifically for AI development staff around the country. It currently has more than 150 positions open at various locations around the country.

It also opened a new office in Cambridge focused on AI and machine learning with several hundred staff, as well as a six-storey, 500,000 square foot headquarters in London at Battersea Power Station.

It's not all plain sailing in the UK for the company, though. It's currently facing a class action lawsuit for charging UK developers a 30% fee.

The case was last week given the green light by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and could see Apple forced to pay back fees to 13,000 developers amounting to up to £785 million.

"Apple’s App Store is currently the only means by which app developers can distribute their apps on iOS devices.," said competition law expert Sean Ennis, who is leading the claim.

"Apple exploits this fact by charging excessive commission fees that do not reflect the significant value that third-party apps contribute to the success of iOS devices."

"Apple’s exploitation of its monopoly on iOS app distribution deprives developers of fair compensation and funds that could be better spent on research and development."