Apple awards $10 million grant to a nose swab maker
The tech giant offers the grant to COPAN Diagnostics from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund.
Apple has announced a $10 million grant to be given to COPAN Diagnostics, a nasal swab maker, as part of the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
The statement from Apple calls COPAN Diagnostics "a market leader in sample collection kits that play a critical role in COVID-19 testing." It says the extra funding will help the company create one million testing kits per week by early July.
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In an interview with Fox Business, Apple COO Jeff Williams described the nature of the "partnership" between the companies: "Way more important than the money, we're bringing operational and automation expertise to the problem to dramatically increase their capacity and see if we can make a big dent in this backlog from U.S. hospitals of specimen kits."
This move is the latest in a series Apple has made to address the coronavirus pandemic, including designing and producing face shields for medical workers. The Cupertino company has also partnered with Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurene Powell Jobs to create America's Food Fund, a group aiming "to feed the country's most vulnerable populations" during the spread of COVID-19 and ensuing quarantine.
Apple declined to provide further comment.
