Apple CEO Tim Cook was joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and other government officials to open a new manufacturing plant in Houston, Texas, where free training and educational classes will be offered for businesses. This center will be used to manufacture Mac Mini desktop computers later this year, Apple said. AI servers for Apple will also be assembled in part of the facility.
“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. He also mentioned that Apple had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the facility.
President Donald Trump has been pushing Apple to make its iPhone in the U.S. for years. While the company has tried to appease the administration, it has also been wary of Trump’s tariffs.
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“In less than nine months, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into this Houston facility. We stood up a factory, started production, and shipped the first advanced AI servers off the line. Today, we’re thrilled to open our new Advanced Manufacturing Center, a place where businesses, workers, and students can learn the same innovative processes that we use to make Apple’s most groundbreaking products. And we’re pleased to begin Mac mini production later this year,” Cook said.
“We believe in American workers and American ingenuity, and we are moving at an incredible pace because we want to build more than great products. We want to build the future of American manufacturing.”
Lutnick said that the opening of this facility is “an important step in Apple delivering on its promise to bring its manufacturing back to America.”
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“With this Advanced Manufacturing Center, Apple will equip American workers with the skills they need to lead the next generation of technology,” Lutnick said.
Apple said that to mark the facility’s opening, its first cohort of small- and medium-sized business leaders is spending the day immersed in hands-on training led by Apple engineers, covering smart manufacturing techniques like machine-learning-driven quality control and advanced automation. It builds on the work of the Apple Manufacturing Academy, which opened in Detroit in August 2025, and has already helped nearly 1,000 American workers, students, and entrepreneurs learn smart manufacturing techniques and integrate AI into their production processes.
Last month, Apple’s market capitalization recently surpassed $5 trillion, making it the second company ever to cross that mark. Nvidia is the only other company that had previously reached that milestone.
Cook is set to transition into the role of executive chairman as John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer effective on September 1, 2026.