Apple reportedly put down $445 million for a 67.5-acre corporate center in San Diego. This will be a new corporate campus for the iPhone-maker.
The purchase comes after Apple vowed in 2021 to increase its workforce to more than 5,000 in the Southern California city.
Apple has been growing in San Diego for years
Back in 2019, Apple announced plans to hire 1,200 people for its tech hub in San Diego. Obviously, the company’s aspirations for the SoCal city have grown considerably since then.
After leasing property for its employees, Apple purchased the Rancho Vista Corporate Center, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The complex offers 809,769 square feet, and was formerly used by HP, which left in 2016. “Swift immediately commenced a $80 million campus-wide renovation project, which was completed in May 2020, transforming the site into a Class ‘A’ office/R&D campus,” according to Swift Real Estate Partners.
“We’ve been part of the community in San Diego for more than two decades, and are thrilled to continue investing here as we expand our world-class teams,” Apple told the Union-Tribune.
Apple versus Qualcomm
Chipmaker Qualcomm is headquartered in San Diego. While it provides 5G modem chips for iPhone and iPad, the two companies have a rocky relationship.
Apple is hoping to make its own 5G modems, and certainly wouldn’t mind poaching Qualcomm employees from across town. Especially as the effort to design Apple’s own modems is reportedly having problems.
