In addition to its existing research and development centers in Israel, Taiwan and Shanghai, Apple is now looking to build another facility in Japan, Reuters reported Tuesday. The “cutting-edge” R&D center was confirmed by Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
The facility “will be formally announced soon,” he told local media, as confirmed by the Jiji and Kyodo News.
The massive facility will be comparable to Apple’s biggest R&D centers in Asia, the news report added. Reuters stopped short of specifying what exactly the Cupertino firm might use the forthcoming R&D center for.
”Apple has decided it undertake cutting-edge R&D in Japan,” Prime Minister was quoted as saying. “It will be formally announced soon.”
The revelation highlights Apple’s continuing efforts to disperse its research and development activities as it continues to build these centers the world over.
For example, Apple’s six-story 100,000 square feet facility in Pudong, Shanghai focuses on procurement management and R&D, according to documents on the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce’s website.
Another R&D center is located in Taiwan and allegedly dedicated to creating new products, including future iPhones.
Apple also has three R&D centers in Israel.
One is in the city of Haifa, the second was created following Apple’s purchase of the flash memory developer Anobit and the third, which recently opened in the Israeli city of Ra’anana, is staffed by approximately 150 former Texas Instruments employees.
Finally, Apple is said to be opening another R&D office in Cambridge, England. According to Business Weekly, it’s located at 90 Hills Road and has room for 40 employees.
Meanwhile, Apple’s upcoming Campus 2 in Cupertino, California is coming along nicely. Scheduled to open by 2016, the massive glass structure shaped as a flying saucer will be home to 12,000 Apple employees, among them R&D staff.
Pictured above: a size model of Campus 2.
Among other things, Campus 2 will have a massive 120,000 square foot underground auditorium for product launches and presentations and a 100,000 square foot fitness center, costing $161 million and $74 million, respectively.
In its most recent quarterly filing, the Cupertino firm reported spending a whopping $1.68 billion on research and development. R&D expenses totaled $6 billion in the company’s fiscal year 2014.
Here’s a drone’s eye view of Campus 2 in progress, as of December 2.
Apple expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive.
According to its SEC filing, “The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competition in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company’s core business strategy.”
[Reuters]