Apple to produce Mac Minis in Houston for the first time — US chip sourcing tops 20 billion units

Apple’s 20,000-square-foot Advanced Manufacturing Center opens later this year. — (Image credit: Apple)

Apple announced today that it will begin producing the Mac Mini in Houston, Texas, later this year, marking the first time that the compact desktop has ever been manufactured in the United States.

Production will take place at a new factory on Apple’s existing Houston campus, which already assembles the company’s AI servers and will double the site’s overall footprint. The decision is part of Apple’s $600 billion U.S. manufacturing commitment, announced last year, which came following President Trump’s threats to levy a 25% tariff on Apple products made overseas.

"Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we're proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac mini starting later this year,” CEO Tim Cook said in an Apple Newsroom announcement, which also states that AI server production at the Houston campus had already started ahead of schedule in 2025, with logic boards assembled onsite feeding Apple’s data centers across the country. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, COO Sabih Khan said that Apple “feels more confident” about long-term Mac Mini demand, describing it as more popular than the Mac Pro.

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Some production in China and Vietnam will continue alongside the U.S. line, with the Houston facility focused on serving domestic demand as the assembly operation scales up. Apple currently manufactures thousands of Mac Minis per week globally, with roughly one million units sold annually worldwide, representing a fraction of the company’s iPhone volumes, meaning the Houston line represents a modest slice of the company’s overall manufacturing footprint even at full capacity. The Mac Mini currently starts at $599 and is powered by Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro chips.

In terms of chip supply, the numbers Apple released alongside the Houston announcement show us how aggressively the company has been assembling a domestic semiconductor supply chain. The company said it exceeded its own targets and sourced more than 20 billion U.S.-made chips from 24 factories across 12 states last year, with partners including TSMC, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments. Separately, Amkor broke ground on a $7 billion semiconductor advanced packaging and test facility in Peoria, Arizona, where Apple is expected to be the first and largest customer when it opens.

It’s worth noting that Apple does have a track record for domestic manufacturing. In 2019, Cook toured a Texas facility with Trump that was presented as a new manufacturing site, though the facility had been producing Apple computers since 2013. However, four years later, in 2023, MacRumors reported that the then-new Mac Pro featured a ‘Product of Thailand. Final assembly in the USA’ label which was not seen on previous models, with Apple providing no explanation for the change

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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.

4 Comments Comment from the forums

hotaru251

its apple...either its gonna be coming w/ a new "made in usa" tax or its not going to actually be made in states just assembled.
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JamesJones44

hotaru251 said:
its apple...either its gonna be coming w/ a new "made in usa" tax or its not going to actually be made in states just assembled.
The M series SoC will likely come from Arizona. Not to mention, strait in the article "The company said it exceeded its own targets and sourced more than 20 billion U.S.-made chips from 24 factories across 12 states last year, with partners including TSMC, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments. Separately".

So, will it be 100% US made, doubtful, but even todays Mac Mini is not 100% made in China or Vietnam. Most of the internal components are sourced from Taiwan and Malaysia
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thestryker

We've been here before with I think it was maybe the Intel based imacs and it lasted until they shifted production away. I'm curious if the packaging apple uses is available in the US or if the silicon will still need to be shipped across an ocean. Hopefully this will just be the start for apple, but based on past history I sure wouldn't count on it.
Reply
JamesJones44

thestryker said:
We've been here before with I think it was maybe the Intel based imacs and it lasted until they shifted production away. I'm curious if the packaging apple uses is available in the US or if the silicon will still need to be shipped across an ocean. Hopefully this will just be the start for apple, but based on past history I sure wouldn't count on it.
I read in the Wall St Journal that US made M series processors are "shipped to Foxconn’s facility in Houston, TX for final assembly". However, IMO that wording is a bit ambiguous, it doesn't mean it doesn't get shipped offshore from TSMC Arizona for part of that effort and then shipped back to Houston to get shoved in a container for shipment to assembly. The article doesn't mention any offshore processes, but without conformation, it's hard to say for sure.
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