Bengaluru, Jan 17 (IANS): Apple on Wednesday announced to expand its footprint in India with opening a new office in the heart of Bengaluru, as the iPhone maker cements its position in the country with ramping up local manufacturing.

Located at Minsk Square which is the key location in the city, the new office will house up to 1,200 employees.

It comprises of 15 floors and features dedicated lab space, areas for collaboration and wellness, and Caffe Macs.

“Bengaluru is already home to so many of our talented teams, including software engineering and hardware technologies, operations, customer support, and more,” an Apple spokesperson told IANS.

“Like everything we do at Apple, this workspace is created to foster innovation, creativity, and connection. It’s an amazing space for our teams to collaborate,” the company spokesperson added.

The interiors feature locally-sourced materials, including stone, wood, and fabric in the walls and flooring, and the office is filled with native plants.

The new office uses best practices in energy conservation, will run on 100 per cent renewable energy, and aims to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating — the highest level of LEED certification.

Apple has been carbon neutral for its corporate operations since 2020, and has run all Apple facilities using 100 percent renewable energy since 2018.

The office is the latest addition to the company’s corporate office footprint in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Gurugram, and represents another important milestone in Apple’s more than 25 year history in the country.

Apple has nearly 3,000 employees in India and the work with Indian suppliers of all sizes supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.

The company works with partners across India that are advancing critical work to protect the environment and expand access to education and employment, including Frank Water, which helps empower communities to protect their own watersheds on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Apple’s teams in Bengaluru work across a wide range of Apple’s business — from software, hardware, services, IS&T, operations, customer support, and others.

As India doubles down on local manufacturing, Apple assembled iPhones worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore in India in 2023, according to industry data.

However, according to industry sources, the actual market value of the iPhones manufactured/assembled in India could be much higher, depending on taxes in other countries.