Apple Computer Inc. - Corporate Affairs - Headquarters

Headquarters

Apple Inc.'s world corporate headquarters are located in the middle of Silicon Valley, at 1–6 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California. This Apple campus has six buildings that total 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2) and was built in 1993 by Sobrato Development Cos.

Apple created subsidiaries in low-tax places such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands to cut the taxes it pays around the world. According to the New York Times, Apple was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in high-tax countries in a manner that allowed the company to sell on behalf of low-tax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes. Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the "Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich," which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean.

In 2006, Apple announced its intention to build a second campus on 50 acres (200,000 m2) assembled from various contiguous plots (east of N Wolfe Road between Pruneridge Avenue and Vallco Parkway). Later acquisitions increased this to 175 acres. The new campus, also in Cupertino, will be about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the current campus. The new campus building will be designed by Norman Foster.

On June 7, 2011, Steve Jobs gave a presentation to Cupertino City Council, detailing the architectural design of the new building and its environs. The new campus is planned to house up to 13,000 employees in one central four-storied circular building (with a café for 3,000 sitting people integrated) surrounded by extensive landscape (with parking mainly underground and the rest centralized in a parking structure). There will be additional buildings such as an auditorium, R&D facilities, a fitness center and a dedicated generating plant as primary source of electricity (powered by natural gas and other more environmentally sound means).

Apple's headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are located in Cork in the south of Ireland. The facility, which opened in 1980, was Apple's first location outside of the United States. Apple Sales International, which deals with all of Apple's international sales outside of the USA, is located at Apple's campus in Cork along with Apple Distribution International, which similarly deals with Apple's international distribution network.

On April 20, 2012, Apple announced the addition of 500 new jobs to its European headquarters. This will bring the total workforce from around 2,800 to 3,300 employees. The company will build a new office block on its Hollyhill Campus to accommodate the additional staff.