Apple To Open Office In Cambridge

Apple is reportedly set to open an office in Cambridge in another sign that the city is rapidly becoming the UK’s premier location for high tech and medical companies.

The trend for high tech businesses to establish a presence in Cambridge has led to it to being labelled as the UK’s ‘Silicon Fen.’

R&D Centre

The news that Apple is to open a research and development centre in Cambridge at some time in the next few weeks was reported by Business Weekly, which said that the company is looking at the location at 90 Hills Road for a facility of 20 staff, with the possibility of expanding by another 20 in the future.

There has been no official comment from Apple over the matter yet, but it is understood that the UK government has been working behind the scenes over a number of years now to persuade Apple to have a bigger presence in the country.

If true, Apple would be a significant win for the city, which already plays host to the likes of Autonomy, now owned by HP, and ARM Holdings, which designs the chips used in the majority of the world’s smartphones.

Apple already has a corporate office in central London, and currently has R&D facilities in China (Shanghai), Israel and Taiwan.

Brit Link

The company already has a significant link to the UK, in the form of lead designer Sir Jonathan ‘Jony’ Ive, who was knighted by the Queen back in early 2012.

Sir Jonathan has previously been reported as wishing to move back to the UK. As Apple’s main creative force, Sir Jonathan was reportedly at “loggerheads” with the company’s board over his wish to return to the UK back in early 2011.

It is thought that Sir Jonathan and his wife had wanted to return to England to raise their children and send them to British schools. He had proposed a plan to “commute” to Cupertino, California, from his Georgian manor house in Somerset, but in the end, he elected to remain in California.

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