Update: Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell says Apple’s local manufacturing of the Mac Pro means about 800 new jobs.
“I think it’s another day in the life of a growing city,” he tells KUT News, “but it’s a big day in the life of Austin, because as you know, Apple is a premiere company around the world. When they make an important step like this here in our city, that’s going to be heard around the world to our advantage.”
Apple has already announced it’s building a $300 million operations center in Northwest Austin. For that project, Apple is receiving a $21 million grant from the state, over $8 million from the city and $6 million from Travis County.
Original story (11:58 a.m.): Apple’s new Mac Pro is being manufactured in Austin.
Rumors had abounded that Apple’s cylindrically-shaped computer was being assembled in Austin: the Austin-American Statesman reported in October that contractor Flextronics America had already created nearly 900 jobs to work on a “next generation desktop computer” at its Northwest Austin facility.
This morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a photo of Mac Pros rolling down an assembly line with the caption, “We have begun manufacturing the Mac Pro in Austin.”
We have begun manufacturing the Mac Pro in Austin. It’s the most powerful Mac ever. Orders start tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/Jrd1Gic3Ya
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) December 18, 2013
“With the new Mac Pro, we assemble the entire product and machine several of its high-precision components in the United States,” reads a product description from Apple. It also cites “industry-leading companies in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, and over a dozen other states across America” as manufacturing several of the computer’s components.
Billed as “the most powerful Mac ever,” the Mac Pro starts at $2,999, with a more powerful model running $1,000 more.
