Apple invests another billion in Munich chip center

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Munich (dpa) - Apple will invest another billion euros in its European Center for Chip Design at the Munich location. This was announced by the Californian technology group in the Bavarian state capital.

The iPhone group is thus increasing its investment commitment from 2021 to two billion euros. Munich is already Apple's largest development location in Europe. The expansion is part of the global strategy to increasingly rely on the development of proprietary chips. Important microprocessors from our own research and development are already being used in the iPhone, iPad, Mac computers and products such as the Apple Watch.

The investment decision was preceded by a real estate deal with the Free State of Bavaria. At the beginning of February, the budget committee of the Bavarian state parliament approved one of the most expensive property sales in Bavaria's history. The coveted area in the city center, which had been unused since 2017, went to Apple for an estimated 250 million euros. The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior had also expressed an interest in using the prime property. Apple can now build the planned “Hub for Innovation” in the heart of Munich.

Apple wants to make itself independent of Qualcomm supplies

The developers in the Munich chip center are working on three main topics: 5G radio technology, energy-saving solutions for chips and so-called analogue and mixed-signal solutions. With the help of the results from Bavaria, Apple wants to make itself independent of supplies from the chip manufacturer Qualcomm, from which the iPhone manufacturer has previously obtained its radio chips for the fifth generation of mobile communications (5G).

The 5G chips from its own production are important for Apple, because the group had even argued in court with the unloved supplier Qualcomm in recent years. It was about patents and license fees for the use of mobile communications technologies in smartphones. Apple sued Qualcomm in 2017, accusing the company of charging excessive license fees. Qualcomm, in turn, argued that Apple used its patents illegally. The parties agreed in 2019 to end all litigation and sign a six-year license agreement.

5G technology - Munich plays a key role in this

Apple is now under preasure to make its own 5G technology ready for series production by the time this agreement expires. Munich plays a key role in this. The well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from the asset manager TF International Securities recently reported that Apple will launch the first iPhone with a self-developed 5G modem next year. The chip co-developed in Munich will initially be used in the new iPhone SE.

Apple customers are already using technology from Munich for the "Power Management" development focus, i.e. the particularly energy-saving system, for example in the MacBook Pro with the Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max chips.

“We are looking forward to our future here more than ever”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “Our engineering teams in Munich are among the world’s most innovative and help to develop new technologies that form the heart of our products. Apple has been in Munich for more than 40 years and we look forward to our future here more than ever."

Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder welcomed Apple's commitment on twitter. Bavaria's high-tech offensive is also convincing internationally. He himself had talks with Cook and advertised for Bavaria.

In addition to the new location on Seidlstrasse, Apple's teams will move into additional R&D facilities nearby as part of the expansion of the European Center for Chip Design. The three new locations are located directly opposite Apple's recently opened research and development facility on Karlstrasse.

During his recent visit to the Oktoberfest, Cook justified his involvement in Munich with the quality of the employees. "We're here for the people," Cook said. The universities in the greater Munich area are excellent. In addition, there are many qualified workers in the region. But Munich also has in common with Silicon Valley in California that people like living there. It is therefore easy to attract employees from other countries to Munich.

Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer, said: "The expansion of our European center for chip design will enable even closer cooperation between our more than 2,000 engineers in Bavaria who work on groundbreaking innovations such as our own chip designs, power management and future wireless technologies.»

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