Apple to Spend 1 Billion Euros on Munich Silicon Design Center Expansion

[MacRumors]

Apple has announced an additional 1 billion euros investment in German engineering over the next six years as part of its Silicon Design Center expansion in central Munich.

Apple says the investment will go towards the design and construction of a "state-of-the-art research facility" at Seidlstrasse, where Apple's R&D teams can "come together in new ways, enhancing collaboration and innovation."

"Our R&D teams in Munich are critical to our efforts to develop products delivering greater performance, efficiency, and power savings," said Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. "The expansion of our European Silicon Design Center will enable an even closer collaboration between our more than 2,000 engineers in Bavaria working on breakthrough innovations, including custom silicon designs, power management chips, and future wireless technologies."

In addition to Apple's new Seidlstrasse facility, teams will occupy several additional R&D spaces at Denisstrasse and Marsstrasse as part of the Silicon Design Center expansion. The three new sites are located across the street from Apple's recently opened R&D facility at Karlstrasse. Together with engineering sites at Arnulfstrasse and Hackerbrücke, the new facilities form Apple's European Silicon Design Center, centrally located in Munich’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.

The announcement builds on Apple's previous 1 billion euros investment commitment from 2021, when Apple established Munich as the headquarters of its European Silicon Design Center.

Apple says it has spent over 18 billion euros with more than 800 German companies, supporting job creation, community development, and workforce opportunities throughout the country over the past five years.

Article Link: Apple to Spend 1 Billion Euros on Munich Silicon Design Center Expansion

 

[JippaLippa]

I, for one, welcome a bigger apple presence in Europe.
It's a bit frustrating to have everything in the US Only.

 

[SoldOnApple]

That photo looks like a trap room from a Saw movie.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

Secretly, Tim Cook and Johny Srouji want an excuse to travel to Germany to sample Bavarian Beer on a regular basis and have a decent serving of roasted pork knuckle while they're there.

See, I fixed the article for you there...

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

 

[RickDEGH]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

Because no one knows and does silicon r&d better than Germans. Read a bit about German innovations and abilities in the technical and even medical fields.

 

[kesko]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

Because its ****ing Germany?! Where else would you put R&D in Europe if you seek high precision and quality?

Greetings from Germany - not very high tech when it comes to civil services, but very high tech when it comes to Science, Research etc. - especially Munich area

 

[schneeland]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

If I remember correctly, the Apple research center in Munich is a former Siemens location. Siemens exited the market for mobile and network technology, but had built up quite some knowhow (if you read German, you can get a glimpse here: Handelsblatt). Also, generally, Munich is popular location with a larger number of IT companies in Germany, so there's a solid ecosystem there (and terrible housing prices and commuting times, so people can basically get the full Silicon Valley experience ).

 

[nicolas_s]

Because its ****ing Germany?! Where else would you put R&D in Europe if you seek high precision and quality?

Greetings from Germany - not very high tech when it comes to civil services, but very high tech when it comes to Scíence, Research etc. - especially Munich area

I hope this will lead to more collaboration between Apple and BMW!

 

[AppliedMicro]

Where else would you put R&D in Europe if you seek high precision and quality?

Switzerland, of course.

Or the U.K. (arguably being more involved in semiconductor design, and the home of Arm).

 

[kesko]

Switzerland, of course.

Or the U.K. (arguably being more involved in semiconductor design, and the home of Arm).

Switzerland is certainly a qualified competence in this topic, however I think due to knowledge already being in Munich due to Siemens, Apple has decided to favor it over Switzerland.

UK - hah I would not trust. Very volatile, Scientist from the EU leaving, degraded economy, isolation through Brexit, many internal issues - I guess not a good place to invest a billion in a future technology, when the current time is uncertain.

 

[Useless Touchbar]

I hope this will lead to more collaboration between Apple and BMW!

It's so obvious that this "Silicon R&D Center" is actually the place where Apple car is secretly being produced

 

[murad_fourth]

Because its ****ing Germany?! Where else would you put R&D in Europe if you seek high precision and quality?

Greetings from Germany - not very high tech when it comes to civil services, but very high tech when it comes to Scíence, Research etc. - especially Munich area

The UK.

 

[Useless Touchbar]

Switzerland is certainly a qualified competence in this topic, however I think due to knowledge already being in Munich due to Siemens, Apple has decided to favor it over Switzerland.

UK - hah I would not trust. Very volatile, Scientist from the EU leaving, degraded economy, isolation through Brexit, many internal issues - I guess not a good place to invest a billion in a future technology, when the current time is uncertain.

Eindhoven region could have also been great choice for semiconductor stuff

 

[AppleTO]

Considering how many products Apple actually sells (and how similar they all are), it’s a little funny to hear that they are building/expanding a new ‘design centre’. Apple’s designs seem to hardly ever change.

(I know, they are referring to silicon here.)

 

[jonnysods]

From that photo it looks like a lot of the investment goes into decor! That's a pretty intense room, and it makes my back hurt watching that guy work like that!

 

[T Coma]

“In keeping with Apple’s environmental directive (and unstable foreign dependencies), the new facility will by nominally powered by ‘wind and solar’ but also by the latest and most efficient in wood/coal burning technology.”

 

[cdsapplefan]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

You would think that with European Union and politics forcing Apple to go all USB-C that they wouldn’t invest this much in European countries this quickly. Their a trillion dollar company so you get money and you get money and so on etc, etc.

 

[maryland]

Rip in peace that wallpaper

 

[Gatto37]

....where Apple's R&D teams can "come together in new ways, enhancing collaboration and innovation." and drink a lot of beer

 

[rp2011]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

Giving a European talent pool that may have reservations being so far from their loved ones another option. But most importantly is diversification. Having all the top people in one location is not a good idea for a vast number of reasons. The country the talent are originally from being the least of them.

 

[hagar]

The UK.

Good one. Countless companies left the UK in the last years. It’s one of the few economies in Europe that is actually shrinking. They can’t even manage to keep their supermarket shelves full because of Brexit and the increase in admin.

A billion dollar hub requires free movement of brains. That’s no longer the case in the UK. Not to mention the lack of access to R&D funds from the EU.

 

[ksec]

Why the focus on Germany for this r&d — does anyone know?

Intel’s previous Modem design team, inherited from Infineon, which itself was separated from Siemens, is located in Germany.

 

[CausticSoda]

Good one. Countless companies left the UK in the last years. It’s one of the few economies in Europe that is actually shrinking.

Alongside Germany, for example... Good one!

 

[samuraiQ]

Very beautiful maps.