Apple is building a new European Silicon Design Center in Munich, expanding its current operations in the German engineering hub with an investment of over 1 billion euros ($1.19 billion).
In an announcement Wednesday, Apple said it plans to add hundreds of new employees, as well as a new facility focused on connectivity and wireless technologies, to its current operations. Right now, the company has a large engineering hub in Munich, with nearly 1,500 engineers from 40 countries working there in areas such as power management design, application processors, and wireless tech.
The total investment in the new facility as well as R&D will exceed 1 billion euros in the next three years.
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“I couldn’t be more excited for everything our Munich engineering teams will discover — from exploring the new frontiers of 5G technology, to a new generation of technologies that bring power, speed, and connectivity to the world,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
The efforts of Apple’s engineers in Germany are perhaps best seen in Apple’s M1 chip, launched in November last year with the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, which offers great performance with a low power usage. Apple says “about half” of its global power management design team is located in Germany.
The new facility has a 30,000-square-meter surface area, and is located in central Munich. It will run on 100 percent renewable energy, just like Apple’s other global offices. The company plans to start moving into the new building in late 2022.