San Diego is preparing for a major hardware update. Apple Inc. purchased a $445 millioncampus in Rancho Bernardo — setting up the company to become a major employer locally + establishing a greater presence outside of its Cupertino, California, headquarters.

In July, the tech giant purchased the Rancho Vista Corporate Center — a seven-building research + development space. This 67.5-acre campus was home to HP Inc. until November 2016, then it underwent $80 million in renovations that were completed in May 2020.

 iHave seen Apple before

This isn’t Apple’s first move into America’s Finest City. In addition to five stores in San Diego County, the company leased 165,000 sqft of offices in University City starting in 2018. And it continued growing — before purchasing its new campus, it leased a different office space in Rancho Bernardo in July 2022.

Now, Apple owns its new campus and has established a more permanent presence, unlike its prior rentals that could go away like the headphone jack.

There’s a new addition to our city. | Image by Michael Beausoleil + Canva

 iWant a job

Apple is committed to upgrading by 20,000 jobs in the US over the next five years — and it looks like 25% will be in the San Diego area. The brand is looking forward to long-term expansion in the region, with plans to hire 5,000 employees here by 2026.

When Apple first arrived in San Diego, it primarily focused on hiring engineers + jobs in cellular technology. Now, there are 600+ open jobs in fields ranging from machine learning to camera technologies and hardware architecture, indicating San Diego will play a bigger role in future Keynotes.

 iSee the future

While Apple has multiple spaces in the county, its timeline hasn’t been released to the public. Josh Ohl - director of market analytics for CoStar — tells the “San Diego Union-Tribune” he believes the new campus will allow the company to consolidate into one space.

The new office space is carbon neutral + powered by 100% renewable energy. This supports San Diego’s Climate Action Plan — with an objective of having a net-zero carbon presence by 2035 — and Apple’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.