Computer and software innovative giant Apple is about to open a research and development base in the university city of Cambridge.
Internationally recognised as Britain’s innovation capital, Apple’s arrival would be seen as a prestige capture for Cambridge which already has several high-profile technology companies either in residence or looking to expand existing offices.
Reports from America claim the Cupertino-based Apple — with almost 100,000 worldwide employees and sales so far this year exceeding $183bn (£115bn) — has decided on research space at 90 Hills Road for its new UK facility. The office complex is initially expected to house around 20 Apple innovators with the capacity to gear up the workforce to at least 40 by early next year.
Apple, traditionally tight-lipped, is refusing to comment on the Cambridge move despite growing evidence that the British Government has been attempting to lure Apple to the UK for the past 25 years, in an attempt to inflate this country’s global tech-leading status.
With satellite R & D centres in Shanghai, Israel and Taiwan, Apple will be joining several heavyweight competitors in Cambridge. Its biggest rival, Microsoft, is expanding its offices near the railway station. Qualcomm recently increased it presence with the $2.5bn (£1.5bn) acquisition of audio pioneer CSR’s Cambridge operation and Huawei is pledging a major investment in the city after swallowing Internet of Things creator Neul.
Music streaming world-leader Spotify — which has more than 10m paying subscribers worldwide and another 30m users of its free service — has had a Cambridge contact centre for the last three years. It recently confirmed its intentions to enlarge its presence, making Cambridge its biggest site outside London.
It is Apple’s arrival, however, which looks set to draw much of the attention and transform an already impressive cluster into what many see as Britain’s emerging Silicon Valley.
Earlier this year Apple boss Tim Cook repeated his intention to expand the company’s product range, saying the company was working on products which aren’t even in the rumour mill yet — and that there was no shortage of ideas.
“The hardest decision we make are the things not to work on,” added Apple’s chief executive officer, whose company already has a corporate office in central London. “There are a lot of things we would like to work on that we are interested in, but we know we can’t do everything great.”
