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Feb. 26 (UPI) — Tech giant Apple says it will build a new manufacturing facility in Texas at some point in 2026 that will create “thousands” of new jobs, including in artificial intelligence.
“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote Monday in a release.
An “advanced manufacturing facility” in an unnamed spot in the Houston area will produce servers — previously manufactured outside the United States — to prop up its Apple Intelligence features that aids users to write, express themselves and do other daily tasks. It arrived as part of a projected $500 billion investment over the next four years in a number of business sectors expected to impact all 50 states in some form.
“From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing,” added Cook. “And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”
The 250,000-square-foot facility is slated to open sometime in 2026 which Apple officials say will create a not specific “thousands” of new jobs.
“Apple’s announcement further solidifies Houston’s leadership as a hub for innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Steve Kean, CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, told Houston Chronicle in a statement. “This is a testament to our region’s business-friendly environment, skilled workforce, strategic global positioning, and proven ability to attract world-class companies. As U.S. companies continue to onshore their manufacturing operations, we are bullish on Houston’s ability to win big.”
Apple’s new AI system “harnesses the power” of Apple in order to better understand and create images and language capabilities, maneuver across apps and draws from “personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks while taking an extraordinary step forward for privacy” in artificial intelligence, the company previously stated.
It first unveiled the AI innovations last year in June at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, Calif.
Apple users, the company said in October, will be able to refine language by rewriting, proofreading and summarizing text virtually everywhere they write including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages and third-party apps.
Meanwhile, Apple is set to begin working with manufacturing partners in Houston later this year on the production of servers, according to company officials.
The Milwaukee-based Chinese manufacturer Foxconn, which assembles the large part of Apple iPhones, has since 2021 leased hundreds of thousands of square feet of space in the Houston area as its beefed up its presence in recent years. In November, Foxconn parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. said it acquired more than 10 acres near its first warehouse in a $33 million deal purportedly to expand its AI server production in Harris County.
And it all came on top of a 10% tariff imposed earlier this month by President Donald Trump on imported goods from China.
However, while Apple did not specifically say the exact number of jobs it will create, it did indicate that plans ultimately will lead to 20,000 new jobs over the next four years across the United States.