Apple Mac Pro will be built in Texas, Apple says, as it prepares ahead of release date of its most powerful computer ever

Company did not say when new desktop would arrive

(AFP/Getty Images)

Apple says it will build the new Mac Pro in Texas, as it prepares for the release of what will be its most poweful ever computer.

The long-anticipated desktop was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this year, when it showed off a strange design and high price that included a $999 stand.

It was the first Mac Pro that Apple announced since 2013, when it showed off its "trashcan" computer that then went on without an update for years.

Now Apple says that the new computer will be made in the US, just like the one it replaces. The announcement comes amid widespread rumours that manufacture would be moved to China.

Apple specifically credited the work of the Trump administration in helping it have some components "excluded", which is thought to be part of the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China. "The US manufacturing of Mac Pro is made possible following a federal product exclusion Apple is receiving for certain necessary components," it wrote in its announcement.

In July, Donald Trump had suggested that Apple would not be given any dispensation from tariffs for parts for the Mac Pro.

"Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China," he wrote then. "Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!"

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the US government's support had "enabled this opportunity".

“The Mac Pro is Apple’s most powerful computer ever and we’re proud to be building it in Austin. We thank the administration for their support enabling this opportunity,” he said.

“We believe deeply in the power of American innovation. That’s why every Apple product is designed and engineered in the US, and made up of parts from 36 states, supporting 450,000 jobs with US suppliers, and we’re going to continue growing here.”

The company gave no updated release date for the new computer. In June, when it was announced, it said only that it would be available "in the fall", and Apple's website still has the same schedule.