Apple is working on a 250,000-square-foot AI server manufacturing facility in the Houston area as part of a four-year, $500 billion investment in the U.S. Completion is scheduled for 2026.
The firm will use the factory to produce servers for Apple Intelligence, its AI system for iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, previously manufactured outside the country.
Apple’s $500 billion plan also includes hiring around 20,000 new employees across the U.S. Targeted sectors feature R&D and software development, as well as AI and machine learning.
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The technology giant also intends to grow its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion. The fund’s expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple to produce advanced silicon in TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona, where it already employs more than 2,000 workers.
Also part of the $500 billion investment, Apple will establish a new manufacturing academy in Michigan and expand its R&D investments to advance innovative fields like silicon engineering. The firm will also expand its data center capacity in North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.
Long-time partners
Apple will develop the new factory together with long-time partner Foxconn, according to Reuters. Last year, the subsidiary of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. acquired an industrial facility and additional land to boost its AI server production in Houston. This expansion project is expected to bring $225 million in capital investment.
Foxconn also owns a 3,000-acre, multi-building development in Wisconsin dubbed Science and Technology Park, which focuses on advanced manufacturing and data infrastructure production, and a 6.2 million-square-foot industrial facility in northeast Ohio, used for electric vehicle production.
One of the strongest manufacturing markets
Houston is home to more than 7,000 manufacturers with a total annual production worth more than $75.1 billion, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. The metro also ranks second in the U.S. for manufacturing GDP.
Houston’s industrial pipeline at the end of last year reached 12.4 million square feet, the third largest nationally, surpassed only by Phoenix (22.4 million square feet) and Dallas (18.9 million square feet), according to the latest CommercialEdge report. The market’s vacancy rate clocked in at 7.2 percent as of December, 80 basis points below the national average.