MUNICH, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 29: Tim Cook, Apple CEO, at Oktoberfest 2019 at the Kaeferschaenke beer tent.
Gisela Schober | German Select | Getty Images
Apple has announced plans to set up a new major chip lab in Munich as part of a billion euros ($ 1.19 billion) plus investment in Germany over the next three years.
The Cupertino company announced on Wednesday that it will open a new 30,000 square meter facility in the center of Karlstrasse in Munich at the end of next year.
Apple has said it will make Munich the “European Center for Silicone Design” and will employ hundreds of new employees in the Bavarian capital.
Apple has said the new facility will be the largest research and development site in Europe for semiconductors and mobile wireless software, suggesting it will eclipse similar sites like Arm’s in Cambridge and NXP’s in Eidenhoven.
The announcement comes as the world struggles with a lack of chips that has hurt the auto industry and other industries. The global chip deficit has worried governments around the world. Semiconductors are used in almost all electronic devices, from laptops and mobile phones to the brake sensors in our cars.
Engineers of the new Apple facility will focus on 5G and future wireless technologies, Apple said, adding that they will also develop modems for Apple products.
Apple has 4,000 employees throughout Germany and already employs 1,500 engineers in seven offices in Munich. Some of them may be reinforced under one roof when the new building is ready.
Apple said its existing engineers in Munich work in areas such as energy management design, application processors and wireless technologies. Together, they have improved performance and efficiency on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac with the M1 chip, he added.
“I couldn’t be happier with everything our engineering teams in Munich will discover – from exploring new frontiers of 5G technology to a new generation of technologies that bring power, speed and connectivity to the world,” said Tim Cook Apple CEO in a statement.
“Munich has been an Apple home for four decades and we are grateful to this community and to Germany for being part of our journey.”
Apple claims to have spent more than 15 billion euros on more than 700 German companies in the last five years, including chip maker Infineon and battery company Varta.
Nathan Beniach, a venture capitalist who backed startup Graphcore, told CNBC that the new chip lab is a strong move by Apple and is optimistic.
“I think vertical integration for Apple means more control over the supply chain and their margins, but most importantly, the flexibility to design exactly what they need to power the products they want to build,” he said. . “Unlike the need to build with what’s available or to persuade suppliers to do so.”
Munich is one of the top technology centers in Europe, and other technology giants use it for research and development – Google employs about 1,000 people in the city. It also hosts car giants such as BMW and Audi, which have thousands of engineers that Apple could hire for its Apple car project.
On Tuesday, the European Union announced plans to become less dependent on technologies traditionally manufactured outside the bloc, such as increasing chip production.
Apple is not the only one to set up new chip labs in Europe, hosting some of the world’s top universities. Chinese technology giant Huawei received the green light in June last year to build a £ 1 billion chip research unit in Cambridge, England.