Apple’s First R&D Center in China’s ‘Silicon Valley’ to Open by End of 2016

Tim Cook said during his August charm offensive in China that his company could deepen its cooperation with the local government by launching its first Asia-Pacific research and development center. According to local media reports today, the facility will open in Zhongguancun Science Park, situated in the Haidian District in northwestern Beijing.

Zhongguancun Science Park is known as China’s “Silicon Valley” because it’s a technology hub where 20,000 technology enterprises operate and companies like Google, Microsoft, Intel, AMD, Sony and others have R&D centers of their own.

Apple has opened the R&D center with a registered capital of CNY 100 million (US$ 14.95 million), with total investments likely to be in excess of CNY300 million ($US45 million) over time. The Cupertino company plans on hiring over 500 employees for the R&D center for communication, development of various devices, software development, and more. Work on the R&D center is expected to be completed by the end of 2016 and will be used to integrate the company’s engineering and business teams to increase sales and improve service in China.

While Apple’s primary research and development centers were previously located primarily in the United States, the company has expanded them to various parts of the world — including Israel — to better capture local resources.

The Cupertino firm operates R&D centers in Japan, Israel and the United Kingdom and plans to establish additional R&D facilities in Canada, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.