Apple spent under nine months building the Houston plant that will make the first US Mac mini

Apple opened a training center in its new Houston factory on Wednesday. The same site will begin assembling Mac mini computers by the end of 2026.

The factory has been shipping AI servers for months. Apple’s production methods are available free to small manufacturers.

Apple ships AI servers and Mac mini next

It took Apple less than nine months to go from picking the Houston site to running a working plant.

“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,” said Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook.

During Apple’s August 13 announcement, he said the production of the Mac mini will begin “later this year.”

The new site is called the Advanced Manufacturing Center. It occupies 20,000 square feet of the Houston plant.

It provides free sessions to small and medium-sized businesses on the techniques Apple uses in its own lines, from machine-learning quality checks to sophisticated automation.

Apple designed the curriculum to emphasize hands-on work. On opening day, the first group of business leaders assembled and laser-etched a product themselves, working with a holographic table and factory-floor equipment.

Sessions will cover printed circuit board design and final-assembly principles. Apple says it will open the center to local college students in the future.

It is the company’s second such facility, following the Apple Manufacturing Academy that debuted in Detroit in August 2025 and has since trained close to 1,000 workers and entrepreneurs.

Apple’s $600 billion plan spans about 79 factories

As Cryptopolitan reported at the time, Apple announced last September that it would spend $600 billion on US manufacturing over four years, which includes about 79 factories.

That pledge also included a $2.5 billion expansion of Apple’s glass partnership with Corning in Kentucky and chip work with Taiwan Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and Applied Materials.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Senator Ted Cruz, and other officials attended the Houston opening.

“This opening is an important step in Apple delivering on its promise to bring its manufacturing back to America,” Lutnick said.

The company previously said firms that manufacture within the US are exempt from a 100% tariff on imported semiconductors.

Apple has promised to start Mac mini production in Houston in 2026 but has not disclosed a shipping date, unit target, or price for a US assembled model.

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