Apple picks Houston for Mac Mini manufacturing as it tries to make good on its $600 billion US promise

Apple will start building Mac Mini computers at a Foxconn facility in north Houston later this year—its latest and most visible effort to shift some production out of Asia and onto American soil.

Chief operating officer Sabih Khan broke the news during a first-ever public tour of the facility with The Wall Street Journal. He walked reporters through two buildings: one where Foxconn already assembles Apple's AI servers (about 10 per hour), and a cavernous warehouse next door that's being converted into 220,000 square feet of Mac Mini production space.Production in Asia isn't going anywhere, though. Khan told WSJ the US line will ramp up to serve domestic demand, while factories in China and Vietnam continue handling orders for the rest of the world.

Why the Mac Mini and not the iPhone

Here's the thing—the Mac Mini is a tiny slice of Apple's business. It made up less than 5% of global Mac sales last year and barely 1% of total revenue. AppleInsider estimates Apple moves about a million units globally per year. That's pocket change next to iPhone numbers.But that's precisely what makes it a manageable bet. Khan said Apple has more confidence in projecting long-term Mac Mini demand than it did with the Mac Pro—the high-end desktop it tried assembling in Austin back in 2013.

That earlier experiment quietly fizzled, with production declining significantly over the years and eventually shifting to Thailand.The Mac Mini also has a growing audience. It's popular with developers writing software for Apple platforms, and lately with people looking to run AI agents locally from their desktops.

Tariffs, Trump, and that $600 billion pledge

This isn't happening in a vacuum. The Houston plan is tied to Apple's August 2025 commitment to invest $600 billion in the US over four years—a pledge that came after sustained pressure from the Trump administration.

In exchange, Apple and other tech companies have secured tariff exemptions that keep their import costs in check.Apple is also turning part of the Houston site into a training centre for advanced manufacturing, aimed at students and supplier employees.The timing is hard to miss—the announcement dropped just ahead of Trump's 2026 State of the Union address on Tuesday. But whether this signals a genuine manufacturing shift or remains a strategic gesture, only the next few years will tell.