Just last fall, Apple opened its European chip design development center in Munich. In the next six years, the American tech group wants to invest another one billion euros in the further expansion of development capacities in the immediate vicinity, the company announced on Thursday. Munich is already Apple's largest development site in Europe.

Ilka Kopplin

Business correspondent in Munich.

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"Our Munich-based engineering teams are among the world's leading innovators and help develop new technologies that are at the heart of our products," said CEO Tim Cook. Apple has been in Munich for more than 40 years, "and we're more excited than ever about our future here," he said.

Work on "future wireless technologies"

The expansion fits into the global strategy, as Apple is increasingly focusing on the development of its own chips, which will later be used in iPhones, MacBooks, iPads and other Apple products.

Apple started in Germany in 1981 – at that time with just ten employees. There are now dozens of branches and more than 4500 employees work for the group. According to the company, more than 1600 employees have been hired in the past three years alone.

Already the European chip center announced in 2021 and opened a few months ago cost Apple more than a billion euros. Now the company is planning further research facilities in the immediate vicinity of Karlstraße near the main train station, more precisely in Seidl-, Denis- and Marsstraße. Among other things, additional laboratory space for chip design is to be created there.

"Our research and development teams in Munich play a critical role in our quest to develop products with higher performance, greater efficiency and lower energy consumption," said Johny Srouji, Chief Operating Officer Johny Srouji. He has previously worked for Intel and IBM.

The expansion of the development center will enable even closer collaboration among the more than 2000,<> engineers in Bavaria "working on groundbreaking innovations such as proprietary chip designs, power management and future wireless technologies," he said.