Apple CEO Tim Cook and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick opened a new Houston manufacturing facility Thursday that will produce Mac Mini computers and AI servers, underscoring the company's ongoing push to expand its U.S. production presence.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and other Trump administration officials, cut the ribbon Thursday on a new manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas, marking the company's latest effort to expand its domestic production footprint.
The facility serves multiple purposes: it will manufacture Mac Mini desktop computers later this year, currently assembles AI servers for Apple, and offers free training and educational classes for businesses on topics including the use of machine learning for quality control.
"We stood up a factory, started production, and shipped the first advanced AI servers off the line, and with Mac Mini production set to begin later this year," Cook said, adding that Apple had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the facility.
Cook also disclosed that Apple sourced more than 20 billion chips from the U.S. last year, along with 100 million chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s fabrication facility in Arizona.
Lutnick, speaking at the ribbon cutting, framed the opening as a fulfillment of a broader administration priority. "For decades, America was the great inventor of the world's technology, and we watched that technology be built everywhere else in the world," Lutnick said. "President Trump said, 'Look, that's got to change.'"
He added that Apple occupied a unique position in the effort to bring advanced manufacturing back to the U.S. "We needed Apple's commitment to build here in America, because they can uniquely, maybe, lead the charge for advanced manufacturing coming to America," Lutnick said.
President Trump has for years pressed Apple to manufacture its iPhone domestically. The company has stopped short of committing to U.S. iPhone production, instead emphasizing components, chips, and cover glass made in the country, while shifting a portion of U.S.-bound iPhone and Mac production to India and Vietnam.
The Houston facility is the second such manufacturing learning site Apple has opened in the U.S. The company previously opened a comparable center in Michigan.
Thursday's event is one of several high-profile joint appearances Apple has staged with Trump administration officials. In 2019, Cook appeared alongside then-President Trump in Austin, Texas, at the factory assembling the $6,000 Mac Pro. Last year, Cook announced at the White House that Apple would manufacture servers for Apple Intelligence at a site near Houston.
Last August, Apple introduced what it called the American Manufacturing Program, a $600 billion spending commitment encompassing orders, purchase commitments, and efforts to expand production capacity with semiconductor companies.
The Mac Mini, historically not Apple's highest-volume PC, gained renewed attention this spring when a free program called OpenClaw drove a wave of interest among AI enthusiasts, who found the machine well-suited to running AI agents. The computer sold out in some stores during that period.
Thursday's appearance also carries significance beyond the factory floor. It falls in the final weeks of Cook's tenure as CEO. On September 1, he will transition to the role of executive chairman, with longtime Apple hardware executive John Ternus assuming the chief executive position. Apple said Cook would "assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world" — a mandate his appearance in Houston appeared to preview.
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