SHERMAN, TEXAS — Finisar, a California-based manufacturer of optical communications components used in Apple products, will open a 700,000-square-foot, previously shuttered manufacturing plant in Sherman. Funding for the project stems from a $390 million grant provided by Apple Inc. The awarding of the grant will enable Finisar, which already operates a plant in Allen, to increase its research and development spending and up its production of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which power Apple products like Face ID and Animoji. Approximately 500 new jobs will be created as a result of Apple’s grant. Holmes Davis of Binswanger represented the seller of Finisar’s new facility, SunEdison. Finisar expects the Sherman facility to begin shipping new VCSELs by the second half of 2018.