Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced on Monday that it plans to open a new campus in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.
Apple will spend over $1 billion on the campus, and it will employ 3,000 people working on technology including software engineering and machine learning.
The campus is a sign of Apple’s continued expansion beyond its headquarters in Cupertino, California, where most of its engineering has historically been based. Apple is also building a $1-billion campus in Austin, Texas, which is expected to open to employees next year.
Apple’s expansion will be located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area, which gets its name due to the nearby three universities: North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams both have MBAs from Duke. Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue, who is in charge of the company’s online services, graduated from Duke.
Apple joins other Silicon Valley technology companies that are expanding outside the Bay Area to gain access to a wider pool of engineering talent and, in some cases, in response to high housing prices and other costs of living in the region.
Apple will continue to be based in Silicon Valley, where it has about 25,000 employees, including 12,000 employees in its loop-shaped headquarters. In total, including retail workers, Apple has 147,000 full-time employees, it said last year in a filing.
AAPL shares docked 70 cents to $133.62.
