Mac Mini sales rise as customers run AI models at home
HOUSTON — Apple CEO Tim Cook and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick toured a Foxconn facility in Houston on August 13, showcasing a Mac Mini assembly line scheduled to begin production later this year and a hands-on manufacturing training program the company said is intended to share its manufacturing techniques with smaller U.S. suppliers. The Wall Street Journal described the visit as one of Cook’s last public appearances as Apple’s chief executive, and reported that the tour demonstrated the close ties between Apple and the Trump administration, which has encouraged domestic manufacturing investment.
Apple has managed to avoid some of the heavy tariffs imposed by the administration, the Journal reported, while the company continues to expand overseas assembly, including in India. The company’s most recent domestic investment pledge — $600 billion over four years — includes spending already earmarked for existing U.S. operations, including pay for corporate and retail staff and the cost of components Apple will buy from U.S. suppliers, according to the Journal.
“Advanced manufacturing is where the puck is going,” Lutnick told workers taking a class in Apple manufacturing techniques. “The problem is we need to train Americans.” In remarks to the same room, Cook said, “We believe in the promise of this nation and we’re proud to put our money where our mouth is.”
The Mac Mini assembly line occupies a 170,000-square-foot space at the Foxconn facility, which already makes AI servers for Apple. Mac Mini sales have grown over the past year, the Journal reported, as the desktop has proven popular with customers running AI models at home.
The Texas training program is hands-on, an expansion of a classroom-based manufacturing program Apple previously opened in Detroit. The company’s stated aim is to share manufacturing expertise with small and medium-sized U.S. businesses.
Most of Apple’s supply chain remains overseas, the Journal reported, and the company is expanding iPhone assembly in India rather than in the United States, where Trump has pushed for domestic iPhone manufacturing. Apple has not announced any plans to move iPhone assembly to the U.S.
Apple has made ever-larger investment pledges to the White House over the years, most recently a commitment of $600 billion in domestic spending over four years. The Journal reported that the figure includes amounts already earmarked for Apple’s existing domestic operations, including pay for U.S.-based corporate and retail staff and the cost of components Apple will buy from U.S. suppliers. Cook has cultivated close ties with Trump dating to the president’s first term, the Journal reported. Cook often speaks with the president, served on a White House job-creation committee, and has donated Apple corporate funds and his own money to Trump initiatives including the new White House ballroom and Trump’s inaugural.
The Trump administration has sought to work with Apple to encourage more domestic investment, with the company’s budget for device parts giving it leverage to press suppliers to make U.S. investments, the Journal reported. Along with other companies, Apple committed to buy chip wafers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s new facility in Arizona, expected to cost more than $200 billion. This year Apple struck a deal with Intel to make some of its device chips — a tie-up particularly close to Lutnick, who led the U.S. government’s $9 billion investment in Intel for a 10% stake. Apple also said it would spend $30 billion on chips made domestically by Broadcom.
Apple’s own capital budget is relatively modest compared with rival tech giants pouring money into AI and chip fabrication, the Journal reported. Apple’s total capital expenditures dating back to 2023 are less than the amount Amazon, Microsoft, or Google each spent in their most recent quarter. At the Houston plant, Foxconn is primarily funding the capital investments to build the new assembly lines, with Apple committing to buy the products produced. Foxconn is one of Apple’s longest-standing supply-chain partners.
Last fall, Cook appeared in the Oval Office to elevate the company’s domestic-investment pledge and presented Trump with a glass plaque with a gold base; Trump gave Cook what Apple shareholders wanted most, the Journal reported — relief from the administration’s most expensive tariffs. Apple earlier secured tariff forbearance after Trump toured a Flextronics facility in 2019 with Cook, where Mac Pro computers were being assembled; Trump at the time cited the visit as evidence of a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing. Apple has since discontinued the Mac Pro.
Lutnick’s stop at the Foxconn plant was part of a weeklong trip to promote increased American manufacturing, following events with Toyota and Ford that highlighted expanded domestic auto production.