While the current Mac Pro has been manufactured in Texas since it was released in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reports that the new Mac Pro unveiled earlier this month will be assembled by Quanta Computer in China.
Quanta is said to be ramping up production of the new Mac Pro at a factory near Shanghai, and given lower wages and closer proximity to other Apple suppliers in Asia, the Chinese manufacturing is expected to cost Apple less than it would to make the computer in the United States.
The move would allow Apple to avoid many of the issues its U.S. suppliers have faced in assembling the Mac Pro stateside. The current Mac Pro is Apple's only major hardware product manufactured in the United States, with all others assembled by Chinese contractors, such as Quanta for the Apple Watch.
Here's a video of how the current Mac Pro is made in the United States:
Watch on YouTubeIn a statement, an Apple spokesperson said "final assembly is only one part of the manufacturing process," adding that the new Mac Pro is designed and engineered in the United States and includes some U.S.-made components.
As a high-end, expensive workstation for professionals, the Mac Pro is not a high volume product for Apple, but where it is manufactured is notable given the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. President Donald Trump has urged U.S. companies to manufacture products domestically.
Trump's administration has increased tariffs to 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese imports and has threatened to impose tariffs on $300 billion more goods, including many Apple products. Apple has warned that these tariffs would reduce its economic contributions and threaten its global competitiveness.
The all-new Mac Pro is an absolute powerhouse with up to 28-core Intel Xeon processors, up to 1.5TB of ECC RAM, up to 4TB of SSD storage, up to AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo graphics with 64GB of HBM2 memory, and eight PCIe expansion slots for maximum performance, expansion, and configurability.
The new design includes a stainless steel frame with smooth handles and an aluminum housing that lifts off for 360-degree access to the entire system. The housing features a unique lattice pattern to maximize airflow.
Apple says the new Mac Pro will be released in the fall, starting at $5,999.
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