Apple Inc. may be joining other tech companies in the Seattle area, having reportedly signed a lease for office space at the Two Union Square building in Seattle. According to Bloomberg, Apple will reportedly set up an office at the 44th and half of the 45th floors of Seattle's third tallest building. Bloomberg's sources also refused to be identified given that details of the lease are private.
In the report, Bloomberg mentioned that the Seattle office space would be able to fit 120 to 200 employees based on standard corporate leasing ratios. The nearly two floors rented measures 30,000 square feet or 2,800 square meters. The spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple, Colin Johnson did not comment on the lease news.
Apple Inc. is just one of the Silicon Valley companies that have expanded into Seattle, reported Bloomberg. Companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. both set up offices in the area. Last year, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. rented space in the downtown Seattle area. This year, the company is reportedly in talks to set up an office in Bellevue.
The new office space also marks Apple's intention to push ahead into the cloud-computing services. The tech giant will be competing with Seattle-based companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Google and Microsoft Corp., adds Bloomberg.
The Two Union Square location will not be Apple's first office in Seattle. Last November 2014, the tech giant established an office for an engineering team in Ballard, reports Geek Wire. The company has yet to confirm the number of employees that are holding office in the area, but previous reports indicated that it is around 30 employees. Apple's arrival in Seattle last year was through the acquisition of Union Bay Networks, a cloud computing start up based in the region.
Apple Inc. has been expanding its manpower and operations, having added more than 9,000 employees last year. The current worldwide headcount for the company is now at about 115,000.
