Earlier this week, we passed along a report claiming that Apple was looking to open up a new research and development center in Beijing. The news made sense, considering that on Tim Cook’s recent visit to China, he was seen talking with high level government officials.
But according to a new report, which cites people familiar with the project, the R&D facility is actually going up in Shanghai. The campus, which Apple is expected to announce later this year, will feature three 6-story buildings, with over 100,000 square feet of space…
CNET China (via AppleInsider) reports:
“Apple will announce the opening of its R&D center in China this summer, but instead of being located in Beijing as rumored, the center will be situated in Pudong, Shanghai, an unnamed insider source told CNET today.
According to the pictures provided by the source, the center consists of three six-story Baroque style buildings with total floor area standing at approximately 10,000 sqm.”
According to the report, Apple began the plan to build the research and development center in China between 6-7 years ago and plans to move into the facility this summer. The total annual rent for the three buildings is said to exceed CNY 50 million (or 8 million USD).
China is currently Apple’s second largest market, but it will soon overtake the US. Tim Cook visited the country for the 2nd time in 10 months last week, and in addition to speaking with officials, he also saw the head of China’s industry and information technology, Miao Wei.
As for R&D, Apple was named the most innovative company last year for the third time in a row, despite the fact that it spent 1/4 less on research and developer than both Samsung and Microsoft. It’ll be interesting to see if it expands on that this year with this new facility.