Apple Inc. will create a $1 billion investment fund to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs, Tim Cook said Wednesday.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Mad Money” with host Jim Cramer, Apple’s chief executive said bringing advanced manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. is a high priority.

“If we can create many manufacturing jobs ... those manufacturing jobs create more jobs around them because you have a service industry that builds up around them,” Cook said.

“We’re announcing it today. So you’re the first person I’m telling,” Cook told Cramer. “Well, not the first person because we’ve talked to a company that we’re going to invest in already.” Cook said the first investment will be announced later this month.

Besides the roughly 80,000 people it directly employs in the U.S., Apple AAPL, -2.95% claims to have created more than 2 million American jobs through its app ecosystem since it launched the iPhone in 2007.

Also see: Tesla hopes to prove manufacturing can thrive in high-cost areas

It was unclear if Apple’s plans include a joint project it was reportedly considering in January with Taiwan-based iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group 2354, -0.18% to build a $7 billion display-panel manufacturing facility in the U.S. that could create 30,000 to 50,000 new jobs.