Apple begins shipping American-made AI servers from Texas

Apple The company announced Thursday that it has begun shipping advanced servers for artificial intelligence applications from a factory in Houston, Texas.

Those servers are a key part of Apple’s commitment to spend $600 billion on advanced manufacturing, suppliers and other initiatives in the United States, and the milestone could please President Donald Trump, who has called for Apple and other tech companies to build more production on U.S. shores.

Apple’s plan to gather servers in the US was first announced in February.

The servers will power the company’s Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Computing services, Apple Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan said Thursday. Apple uses its own silicon in Apple Intelligence servers.

“Our teams have done an incredible job expediting work to get the new Houston plant up and running ahead of schedule, and we plan to continue expanding the facility to increase production next year,” Khan said in a statement.

Apple said its Houston factory is on track to create thousands of jobs. Apple servers were previously produced abroad.

In August, Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump to announce additional U.S. spending specifically for semiconductor companies under a program he calls the American Manufacturing Program.

Cook gave Trump a gift based on US-made Corning glass used in iPhones and Apple Watches.

Apple also opened a manufacturing academy in partnership with Michigan State in July.

While Trump has praised Cook and Apple for their spending commitments in the US, he has at times pushed Apple to produce its iPhones in the US; Experts say this process can take years and be costly.

The Trump administration has separately requested and rescinded tariffs that would have hurt Apple, which imports its computers and phones to the United States from China, India and Vietnam.

In September, Cook told CNBC in an interview that Apple contributes to U.S. manufacturing by doing business with U.S.-based semiconductor suppliers, and that its spending and expertise allow chips to be manufactured and packaged entirely in the United States.

“You can add a lot by making this global and then consolidating the end-to-end supply chain across semiconductors,” Cook said. “I can’t tell you how important this is and how much it will contribute to the work we do.”