Apple to expand Silicon Design Centre in Germany

Apple today announced it will invest an additional 1 billion euros in German engineering over the next six years as part of its Silicon Design Centre expansion in central Munich. This is on top of the company’s previous 1 billion euro investment commitment from 2021, when Apple established Munich as the headquarters to its new European Silicon Design Centre. Munich is already Apple’s largest engineering hub in Europe, and the engineering teams there are integral to the new innovations that delight Apple customers around the globe.
“Our Munich engineering teams are on the cutting edge of innovation, helping imagine new technologies at the heart of the products we make,“ said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple has been in Munich for more than 40 years, and we’ve never been more excited about what the future holds here.”

Building on Apple’s longstanding presence in Germany and growing investments across Europe, the company will design and construct a state-of-the-art research facility at Seidlstrasse. With significant lab space, cutting-edge design, and a central location, the space will enable Apple’s R&D teams to come together in new ways, enhancing collaboration and innovation.

Growing Presence to Develop Cutting-Edge Technologies
Apple’s Munich-based teams have contributed to the breakthrough custom silicon designs used in the latest Apple products, as well as critical cellular and power management innovations. This includes the all-new MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max, Apple’s next-generation Mac silicon that brings even more power-efficient performance and battery life to users everywhere.

“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 Centre 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 Centre expansion. The three new sites are located across the street from Apple’s recently opened R&D facility at Karlstrasse, creating a hub of invention and innovation in the centre of Munich. Together with engineering sites at Arnulfstrasse and Hackerbrücke, the new facilities form Apple’s European Silicon Design Centre, centrally located in Munich’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.

The Silicon Design Centre is walking distance from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) — one of Europe’s leading engineering schools and research institutes. As part of Apple’s deep engagements with academic and cultural organisations across Germany, over the past several years, Apple’s hardware and software tech teams have collaborated with the university on several research projects that explore new ways to make mobile wireless connections more reliable and secure.

Like all Apple facilities worldwide, Seidlstrasse will be designed with highest sustainability standards in mind, achieving gold ratings from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for its environmental credentials from day one. As part of these efforts, Apple plans to support employees’ green urban mobility with carbon-free charging points and parking for both cars and bikes. Since 2018, Apple has sourced enough renewable energy to power all worldwide facilities — including data centres, corporate offices, and retail stores — on 100 percent renewable energy.

Deeply Rooted in the Community Since 1981
Since opening its first German office in 1981 with 10 employees, Apple has expanded to more than 4,500 team members throughout the country. The company has grown by over 80 percent in Germany over the past five years, and has added more than 1,600 team members in the past three years alone.

Apple also continues to expand its work with German suppliers, supporting thousands of jobs through its multibillion-euro annual supply chain spend. Over the past five years, Apple has spent over 18 billion euros with more than 800 German companies, supporting job creation, community development, and workforce opportunities throughout the country.

Germany’s thriving iOS app economy now supports more than 400,000 jobs, and developers across Germany have earned more than 3 billion euros from their apps selling digital goods and services to customers around the world. The App Store Foundations Program has reached more than 250 German developers with one-on-one support for app development, marketing, and business planning in collaboration with Apple experts.

Apple’s employees support various local community-based organisations and charities in Germany, with Apple matching every hour an employee volunteers or euro they donate with a monetary donation to the same organisation through the Employee Giving program. Since the program’s inception in 2011, Apple employees have raised nearly 830 million euros in total donations globally — and have volunteered more than 2 million hours — for organisations such as the Munich Ambulant Children’s Hospice Foundation, Tafel Munich, Bavarian Red Cross, and Munich-based mentoring initiative Rock Your Life!. Apple continues to deepen its engagement with community organisations as it expands its operations in the city.

CT Bureau