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Tech giant Apple is planning to invest $1B to start development of a new R&D campus in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina. The company didn't offer details on the size of the campus, but it did say it would support at least 3,000 new machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering and other tech jobs.
The development is part of plans for $430B in investments and the addition of 20,000 new jobs over the next five years, Apple announced on Monday. That total will include direct spending with U.S. suppliers, data center investments and other capital expenditures in the U.S., including on a number of facilities for Apple TV+ product in 20 states.
Apple has a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion. During its first fiscal quarter of 2021, which ended Dec. 26, 2020, the company posted all-time record revenues of $111.4B, up 21% year-over-year.
By most metrics, the Research Triangle — the area between Duke University in Durham, North Carolina State University in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — is one of the leading R&D markets in the nation. Business Facilities magazine’s 2020 Metro Rankings Report ranked Raleigh No. 1 on its list of GDP leaders in midsized metro markets. Raleigh came in at No. 6 among U.S. tech hub growth leaders and ranked as the No. 7 magnet for millennials, with Raleigh-Durham No. 7 for startup ecosystems.
Apple also said it will establish a $100M fund to support schools and other organizations in the greater Raleigh-Durham area and statewide. The company will also contribute over $110M in infrastructure spending to North Carolina counties, with the funds going toward broadband, roads and bridges, and public schools.
The announcement comes at a time of intense scrutiny of Apple and other tech giants for alleged monopolistic behavior. Last Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights held the latest in a string of hearings on the industry, specifically about app stores run by Apple and Google.
The investment announcement also came immediately after the tech giant announced a raft of new products, including a new lineup of iMacs, iPad Pros, a new Apple TV, a new iPhone 12 and 12 mini, and a new Podcasts app, among others, Tech Crunch reports.
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