Apple Breaks Ground On $1B North Austin Campus

AUSTIN, TX — Apple broke ground on its massive new campus in North Austin this week, not far from a production plant that's been churning out its Mac Pro product since 2013.

“Building the Mac Pro, Apple’s most powerful device ever, in Austin is both a point of pride and a testament to the enduring power of American ingenuity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a Nov. 20 prepared statement. “With the construction of our new campus in Austin now underway, Apple is deepening our close bond with the city and the talented and diverse workforce that calls it home. Responsible for 2.4 million American jobs and counting, Apple is eager to write our next chapter here and to keep contributing to America’s innovation story.”

The all-new Mac Pro was unveiled at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June. Mac Pro units are now in production in Austin and will soon ship to customers across the Americas. The 244,000-square-foot Mac Pro facility employs more than 500 people in a range of roles, including electrical engineers and electronics assemblers, who build each unique unit to customers’ specifications, company officials said.

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Apple’s growth in Austin is part of the company’s nationwide expansion — announced in January 2018 — to increase its investment in manufacturing, engineering and other jobs across the U.S., company officials said. The company estimated the economic impact of its new campus to be along the order of $350 billion nationally between 2018 and 2023, during which time it will hire an additional 20,000 employees in cities across the country.

Apple in Austin

The planned campus is a behemoth, costing some $1 billion and encompassing 3 million square feet of space. The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to open in 2022. Officials noted that Apple is steadily growing in Austin with approximately 7,000 employees in the city — more than a 50 percent increase in the past five years alone.

To ensure its respect of the site's historical and geographical significance of the area, Apple officials said they have partnered with Austin-based Bartlett Tree Experts to preserve and increase the diversity of native trees on the 133-acre property. Thousands of trees spanning over 20 varieties native to Texas are planned for the campus — significantly more than were on the site before construction started. Additionally, the site will be designed to maximize green space, with landscaping covering over 60 percent of the campus, including a 50-acre nature and wildlife preserve that will be open to the public. Like all Apple facilities, the new Austin campus will run on 100 percent renewable energy, including from solar power generated on site.

Earlier this year, Apple launched its Community Education Initiative in Austin, partnering with Austin Community College, Austin area public schools and other community partners to bring Swift coding into the classroom. In addition, Austin Community College was one of the first community colleges in the country to offer App Development with Swift to train its students to design and develop apps.

Making Mac Pro in the U.S.

The all-new Mac Pro is Apple’s most powerful machine ever, and 15,000 times faster than the original Mac, officials said. Apple and its manufacturing partners invested over $200 million in the Mac Pro facility in Austin, officials added, building out the complex assembly line where the Mac Pro is produced. Each Mac Pro travels a distance of 1,000 feet along the production line, with some components requiring precision placement within the width of a human hair.

Officials noted that Mac Pro is designed and engineered in California like all its products. Apple uses 9,000 suppliers across all 50 states, and Mac Pro contains hundreds of components from companies in 19 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and Washington. This includes computer processors from Arizona and Oregon and graphics processors from New York, as well as electrical components from Maine, Pennsylvania and Texas, officials said.

The Mac Pro manufacturing site is UL Zero Waste to Landfill Gold certified, and has been recognized by Austin Water for Excellence in Water Conservation and Excellence in Environmental Stewardship, Apple officials noted.