Hooray for Hollywood! Apple is building a massive new campus in Los Angeles — a move that signals the tech giant’s growing Tinseltown ambitions.
The iPhone maker — behind hits like “Ted Lasso,” starring Jason Sudeikis and “The Morning Show” with Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon — is building a 550,000 square-foot Los Angeles office complex that sprawls into the Culver City neighborhood. It will serve as the company’s headquarters for the region.
The news leaked out over the summer that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company was looking for a new stomping ground as it amps up its entertainment production for its streaming service AppleTV+.
Apple told Variety that the new LA campus will be a “mixed-use” facility, but the firm did not give details on what kind of production studio space will be part of the development.
It’s not clear if all or just some of the jobs at the facility will be related to production for its streaming service. Construction is currently underway.
Apple did not provide an estimate for when the new buildings will be operational.
“We’re in the early planning stages and will have more to share down the line,” the rep told the publication.
Apple’s new digs are located along National, Venice and Washington boulevards, the company said. The two facilities will be connected by a “shared wall.”
The IPhone-maker has slowly made a push into show biz with the launch of its streaming service, AppleTV+ in 2019. Apple has since poured billions of dollars into shows like “Ted Lasso” and “The Morning Show,” in an attempt to catch rivals like Netflix and Disney, which have over 200 million and 100 million subscribers, respectively.
But the streaming service, which costs $4.99 a month, has a long way to go. According to show biz union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Apple said it has less than 20 million subscribers. Apple did not comment.
Nonetheless, the Silicon Valley-based company is cash rich and its new LA headquarters could help it pump out shows faster in order to attract more subscribers.
The tech giant first opened offices in Los Angeles’ Culver City neighborhood in 2014 and it currently has more 1,500 employees working in the LA area. Four years later, Apple leased a 128,000-square-foot office building in Culver City that is about two blocks away from the new complex, Variety said.
As part of Apple’s pledge to create 20,000 new U.S. jobs over the next five years, the company said in April that it expects to grow its Culver City headcount to more than 3,000 employees by 2026.