(The Center Square) – Central to Apple’s $500 billion investment in the U.S. is the largest city in Texas: Houston, which is struggling with a range of failing infrastructure.
When announcing Apple’s historic investment in domestic production, CEO Tim Cook said, “We are bullish on the future of American innovation … From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing.”
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump encouraged businesses to invest in the U.S., expand U.S.-based operations instead of manufacturing products overseas, and proposed a range of tariffs in an effort to reduce the national debt and lower taxes for Americans.
Central to Apple’s investment in domestic expansion is a 250,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility in Houston. Apple and its manufacturing partners will use it to produce servers that support Apple Intelligence, Apple’s new artificial intelligence system.
The servers are also foundational to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, “which combines powerful AI processing with the most advanced security architecture ever deployed at scale for AI cloud computing,” Apple says. “The servers bring together years of R&D by Apple engineers, and deliver the industry-leading security and performance of Apple silicon to the data center.”
Apple says it’s designed its servers “to be incredibly energy efficient, reducing the energy demands of Apple data centers – which already run on 100 percent renewable energy.”
Production of new AI servers is slated to begin in Houston later this year, with the new facility expected to open in 2026.
An operation of this size is expected to require a significant amount of water in a city plagued with water infrastructure and other infrastructure failures.
While many are touting new businesses relocating to Texas and expanding operations there, including Gov. Greg Abbott, he and the state legislature are prioritizing investing more than $1 billion to upgrade water infrastructure to address a growing need of businesses and residents.
In Houston, the main water treatment plant responsible for supplying up to 75 percent of Houston-area residents is failing, city officials said on Tuesday, ABC News 13 reported. The cost to repair one 70-year-old plant is estimated at more than $4 billion; an estimated $15 billion is needed to upgrade the greater Houston area water treatment and waste water system. Roughly 6% of the city’s failing pipes cause two-thirds of the city’s water loss; replacing them is an estimated half a billion dollars. Current infrastructure isn’t capable of meeting commercial and residential needs, an issue the mayor is addressing with state and federal lawmakers.
Apple has previously manufactured servers outside the U.S. Production of servers soon to be assembled in Houston will play a key role in Trump’s pro-America First agenda and boost the Texas and U.S. economy.
Apple is also investing $10 billion in its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, doubling previous investments. The fund was created in 2017 “to support world-class innovation and high-skilled manufacturing jobs across America.” It helps “build local businesses, train workers, and create a wide range of innovative manufacturing processes and materials for Apple products.” It’s supported projects in 13 states, including in Texas.
With Apple expanding in Texas, it and its partners will have to comply with the state’s anti-Environmental Social Governance (ESG) laws after having pushed Apple 2030, its “bold goal to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by the end of this decade.” This includes “replenishing 100 percent of the fresh water used in corporate operations in high-stress locations,” through “large-scale investments in new renewable energy in markets” worldwide, efforts to “decarbonize the grid” and other programs. Apple’s Green Bonds allocated funds for “new clean energy projects,” including the IP Radian Solar project in Texas.
Under state law, state agencies are prohibited from investing in or through entities that implement ESG policies, The Center Square reported. Gov. Abbott and the Texas legislature have prioritized legislative initiatives to support the Texas oil and natural gas industry and expand prohibitions against other policies that disproportionately target it.
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
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