Apple’s new Japanese R&D center, a facility “on par with Apple’s biggest R&D centers in Asia,” is due to open on the outskirts of Yokohama, Japan, the second largest city in Japan in 2016. An artists rendering gives us a peek at the new facility.
Japanese news site NHK reports that the center will be built on the outskirts of Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan after nearby Tokyo. The city’s mayor announced in a news conference that Apple had purchased the remains of a Panasonic factory on the site, and would be building a 25,000 square meter facility over four floors.
The building is reported to be environmentally friendly, and is designed to use low levels of energy, recycled water, and will include trees planted on the roof. Construction is set to begin before the end of the year, with a completion date of sometime in 2016.
Apple’s Yokohama research and development center will join Apple’s other R&D facilities in Israel and Florida (chip development), a Siri research site in Boston, a Chinese Apple University program, and other centers in Sweden and England.
