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Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

apple.com

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Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#31

Post by Aurornis »

arthurcolle wrote: post #19
bigyabai wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not for Clawdbot, this is a re-run of the 2019 strategy where Apple promises to manufacture a low volume of high-margin PC enclosures on US soil.

They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini! Also: "In Houston, workers assemble advanced AI servers, including logic boards produced onsite, which are then used in Apple data centers in the U.S." Advanced AI servers!

> They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini!

Mac Mini is their simplest product. It's the natural place to start training at a new facility.

> Advanced AI servers!

Yes, they have their own AI servers.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#33

Post by tibbydudeza »

SpaceManNabs wrote: post #7

I understand apple's push for US manufacturing in general but what do they mean by AI servers? I thought apple's current AI strategy is using other AI models?

They are using M workstation class chips for inference on their own blades since Google's models are meant run on TPU's it would not have been difficult to port it.

They also use Anthropic internally (code/marketing/sales) which runs their models on Cerebras so they also seem to be agnostic so runs on the same Apple hardware.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#34

Post by minimaxir »

sigmar wrote: post #27
bigyabai wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not for Clawdbot, this is a re-run of the 2019 strategy where Apple promises to manufacture a low volume of high-margin PC enclosures on US soil.

>With its next-level AI capabilities, it has become an essential tool for everyone from students and aspiring creatives to small business owners. Seems to me this part of the PR release is a reference to claudbot/openclaw. What else could it be referring to?

Apple has been taking about Apple Silicon's AI capabilities for the past few years, particularly around Apple Intelligence.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#35

Post by gjsman-1000 »

sigmar wrote: post #27
bigyabai wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not for Clawdbot, this is a re-run of the 2019 strategy where Apple promises to manufacture a low volume of high-margin PC enclosures on US soil.

>With its next-level AI capabilities, it has become an essential tool for everyone from students and aspiring creatives to small business owners. Seems to me this part of the PR release is a reference to claudbot/openclaw. What else could it be referring to?

How about Apple Intelligence having been in almost every press release from the last year?

If you genuinely can't find out what they are referring to, you've been on HN too long.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#38

Post by d--b »

My wild guess is that Cook cut a deal with the IRS so that they build in the US, but get tax benefits other companies don't get, so that it looks good on the administration - like the tariffs are working - and still benefits Apple.

I don't think Apple wouldn't find a cheaper place to manufacture Macs than the US. The US is literally the most expensive place to build.

That, or the Mac Minis are 100% asembled by robots, which is also a possibility.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#39

Post by gigatexal »

Aurornis wrote: post #17
arthurcolle wrote: post #9

Apple ramping up Mac mini production in Houston to meet demand for Clawbots is wild. When were Mac minis a hot commodity before three weeks ago?

> to meet demand for Clawbots is wild This is not in response to OpenClaw. It takes a long time to plan a new manufacturing facility. The Mac Mini is a natural place to start training at a new facility because it's their simplest product. Mac Minis are also around 1% of Apple's device sales. Even with an OpenClaw-inspired burst of sales, it's still a small part of their volume.

This is to appease pumpkin potus and his merry band of idiots

Update: For the record I do hate the POTUS. He’s ruined our reputation around the world. Allowed things like USAID to die removing aid from millions leading to many deaths. He’s incompetent and very stupid which will likely get us killed either in some war or in the next pandemic. Tarrifs are a tax. Congress raises taxes. If you support his right to tax without congress then go live under a king. I’m an American. We don’t want kings. Need I go on?

And hating POTUS for what he’s doing to the country is my right as an American. We weren’t perfect. But we were at least respected. Now the world laughs at us.

He works for me. And you. And he’s doing a garbage job at his job. Why continue to give him a free pass. Would you give someone like this in your team a pass?

Here’s hoping his managers (congress) fires him (impeaches) him.

Re: Mac mini will be made at a new facility in Houston

#40

Post by mikepurvis »

jajuuka wrote: post #29
arthurcolle wrote: post #9

Apple ramping up Mac mini production in Houston to meet demand for Clawbots is wild. When were Mac minis a hot commodity before three weeks ago?

I think there was a rush during the early Intel transition because they were dirt cheap computers you can upgrade yourself and even dual boot Windows. I feel like there was another big bump for them as a set top boxes to run XBMC or something. Might be wrong though. M1 release also saw the Mini's be a cheap entry point to seeing what Apple Silicon could do.

Even to this day there aren't really a ton of options for a non-devkit, non-router arm64 machine that you can use as a desktop workstation.
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