Munich, Germany – September 29: Tim Cook, Apple CEO, during Oktoberfest 2019 at the Kaeferschaenke beer stall.
Gisela Schober | German Select | Getty Images
Apple has announced that it plans to create a new chip lab in Munich as part of an investment of 1 billion euros ($ 1.19 billion) in Germany over the next three years.
The Cupertino company announced on Wednesday that it will open a new 30,000-square-meter facility on Karlstrasse in central Munich next year.
Apple said it would make Munich its “European Silicon Design Center” and hire hundreds of new employees in the Bavarian capital.
Apple said the new facility will be Europe’s largest research and development site for semiconductors and mobile wireless software, suggesting that it will eclipse similar sites like Arm’s in Cambridge and NXP’s in Eidenhoven.
The announcement comes at a time when the world is battling the chip shortages that have inflicted suffering on the automotive sector and other industries. The global chip shortage has worried governments around the world. Semiconductors are used in almost all electronic devices, from laptops and cell phones to brake sensors in our cars.
Engineers at Apple’s new 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 in Germany and already employs 1,500 engineers in seven offices in Munich. It is possible that some of them will be consolidated under the same roof when the new building is ready.
Apple said its current engineers in Munich work in areas such as power management design, application processors and wireless technologies. Together, they improved performance and efficiency on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac with the M1 chip, he added.
“I couldn’t be more excited about everything that 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,” said Tim Cook, from Apple CEO in a statement.
“Munich has been home to Apple for four decades and we are grateful to that community and to Germany for being part of our journey.”
Apple claims to have spent more than 15 billion euros with more than 700 companies in Germany in the past five years, including chip maker Infineon and battery company Varta.
Nathan Beniach, a venture capitalist who supported the chip startup Graphcore, told CNBC that the new chip lab is a strong move by Apple and he is optimistic.
“I think vertical integration for Apple means more control over its supply chain and margins, but the most important thing is the flexibility to design exactly what they need to power the products they want to build,” he said. “In contrast to having to build with what is available or convincing suppliers to do so.”
Munich is one of the main technology centers in Europe and other technology giants use it for R&D – Google employs around 1,000 people in the city. It is also home to car giants like BMW and Audi, which have thousands of engineers that Apple can look to hire for its reported Apple car project.
On Tuesday, the European Union announced plans to become less dependent on technologies traditionally manufactured outside the bloc, such as increased chip production.
Apple is not the only one installing new chip labs in Europe, which is home to some of the best universities in the world. Chinese tech giant Huawei received the green light last June to build a £ 1 billion chip research facility in Cambridge, England.