Apple Set to Begin U.S. Assembly of Mac Mini: Major Shift in Production Strategy

Apple has announced plans to begin assembly of the Mac mini in the United States later this year, according to Sabih Khan, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, during a tour with Wall Street Journal reporter Rolfe Winkler of the still-empty warehouse set to start equipment installation soon. The facility is located in Houston, Texas, where Apple already assembles its Apple Silicon servers. This production will cater to the American market, while the rest of the world will continue to be served by Asian production lines.

Update 12:18 :

Apple has also released a press statement to confirm the news. The statement revealed that this new facility will double the size of Apple’s campus in Houston.

This isn’t the first time that a Mac has been assembled in the U.S.: the Mac Pro has been manufactured in Austin since 2013. Sabih Khan acknowledges that “it’s a much smaller operation. We are still doing what we did from the start, it’s just that the demand isn’t what it was. But remember, back then we didn’t have the Mac Studio, we didn’t have the Mac mini with such advanced chips.” Interestingly, Apple might soon announce the discontinuation of the Mac Pro.

The Mac mini is much more widespread than the Mac Pro and has recently seen a surge in popularity due to its applications in the field of artificial intelligence. However, this is still a minor component of Apple’s overall scale. According to CIRP data, Apple sells fewer than a million Mac minis annually worldwide, compared to 240 million iPhones. Apple is expected to unveil its Mac mini M5 by this summer.

The above Wall Street Journal video is worth watching if you have 10 minutes to spare. It provides many details about Apple’s operations in the United States, from wafer manufacturing at GlobalWafers in Sherman to Foxconn’s facilities in Houston, Texas, and the production of Apple Silicon chips by TSMC in Phoenix, Arizona, including a visit to ASML, which designs the photolithography machines used for chip etching.