Apple pours another billion into next-gen networking tech

An Apple employee doing magical things with network technology

Apple is deadly serious about network technology and will invest yet another billion in expanding its German chip design centre as it seeks the holy grail of 5G after Qualcomm.

Apple pours another billion into next-gen networking tech

The company is investing €1 billion (c.$1.19 billion, c.£856 million) in its Munich chip design centre, which is to become its European Silicon Design Center. Situated in a 30,000 square metre building the centre will hire hundreds of additional people when it opens in 2022.

Apple already employs 4,000 people in Germany including 1,500 engineers working in a variety of areas including power management design, application processors, and wireless technologies.

All about the networks

This is all about 5G and other future network standards. Apple opened its Bavarian Design Center in 2015, which now employs 350 engineers who initially focused on power management and now work on various silicon design projects, including development of the M1 chip now used in Macs.

“Over the past decade, Apple’s innovation in energy efficiency has reduced average product energy use by over 70 percent,” Apple said.

In 2019, the company added silicon engineering sites in Nabern, Kirchheim unter Teck (presumably when it acquired the German-based 5G development efforts from Intel).

Today, about half of Apple’s global power management design team is located in Germany, and Apple also has teams in Munich working on application processor SoCs, and analog and mixed signal solutions for iPhone.

And 5G and 6G networking technologies as “home to Apple’s growing cellular unit, and Europe’s largest R&D site for mobile wireless semiconductors and software.”

“The team is creating 5G and future technologies, bringing innovation to all aspects of the wireless experience through the seamless integration of hardware and software engineering. Teams also focus on developing, integrating, and optimising wireless modems for Apple products. Apple’s site in Linz, Austria, is driving new radio technologies,” the Apple release says.

Intel’s modem business was built on the back of Apple’s former modem supplier, Infineon, but Apple was also Intel’s biggest modem customer.

What Apple said

“I couldn’t be more excited for everything 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,” says Tim Cook, “Munich has been a home to Apple for four decades and we’re grateful to this community and to Germany for being a part of our journey.”

The team is creating 5G and future technologies, bringing innovation to all aspects of the wireless experience through the seamless integration of hardware and software engineering. Teams also focus on developing, integrating, and optimising wireless modems for Apple products. Apple’s site in Linz, Austria, is driving new radio technologies.

This is the rendering of what the new facility will look like.

A new Apple campus

The new, 30,000-square-meter facility is located in central Munich’s Karlstrasse. The architecture and gardens highlight local materials reflecting Munich as a city that combines heritage, humanity, and innovation.

Apple plans to start moving into the new building in late 2022, and it will have LEED Gold certification from day one. Like all Apple offices globally, it will run entirely on 100 percent renewable energy. Across Germany, Apple now has over 4,000 team members in a range of roles, including retail, engineering, and operations.

Apple’s Munich Apple Store

In the past five years, Apple has spent over 15 billion euros with more than 700 companies of all sizes across Germany. This includes the chip manufacturer Infineon, battery company Varta, and the family-owned chemical company DELO, which is delivering resin for Face ID technology in Apple’s newest products, including iPhone 12 Pro.

Apple has been operating in Munich since 1981 when it started with 10 employees. Today, Apple team members are working across several offices, and two of the 15 German Apple Store locations are in Munich.

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