The work from home trend has had devastating consequences for the commercial real estate industry. Thanks to cadres of employees, now fully equipped from home, corporations are cutting back on leases, and cubicles and offices across the country are going empty.
But it's not all doom and gloom for the future of in-office work. In fact, some of the most future-facing companies on the planet are committing billions to build new facilities across the country and indeed across the world.
One of the most notable being Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which recently announced plans to spend $1 billion on a new North Carolina campus. Apple expects the new facility to bring in about 3,000 new cutting-edge jobs in machine learning, AI, and software engineering. The new campus will be located right in the heart of North Carolina's venerated "research triangle." Apple will join with the likes of IBM (NYSE: IBM), Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Epic Games, who also have hubs nearby.
"As a North Carolina native, I'm thrilled Apple is expanding and creating new long-term job opportunities in the community I grew up in," said Jeff Williams, Apple's Chief Customer Officer, in a statement, quoted by CNBC. Both he and Apple CEO Tim Cook are graduates from the nearby Duke University.
Apple's $1 billion commitment in North Carolina is just a fraction of the $430 billion the company plans to spend in the U.S. between now and 2026.
Apple, the nation's largest taxpayer, claims to, directly and indirectly, support more than 2.7 million jobs. Back in 2018, Apple committed to creating 20,000 new positions in the U.S. by 2026. Today Apple has already met those and other investment goals, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"At this moment of recovery and rebuilding, Apple is doubling down on our commitment to U.S. innovation and manufacturing with a general investment reaching communities across all 50 states," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press release.
Meanwhile, Apple's other flagship campus is slated to open sometime next year in Austin, TX. And, Apple plans to add five thousand members to its San Diego team by 2026, a 500% increase over the company's 2018 target. Not to mention the company's plans to expand employment in Colorado, Washington, and Massachusetts.
Apple's 50 states approach is reflexive of a broader trend among tech giants. No longer content with the limited talent pool in Silicon Valley, blue-chip companies are spreading out.
Austin, TX, in particular, has drawn interest from Silicon Valley stalwarts. Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), for example, also plan to open campuses in the area, and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) also famously exited the Valley in favor of Austin.
Outside of Austin, there's the much-hyped opening of Amazon's new headquarters in Arlington, VA, to look forward to. Meanwhile, Google plans to open another $1 billion campus in New York City.
All these trends indicate momentum is clearly shifting out of Silicon Valley. For Apple the question is, how much will Apple's new campuses shift the locus of the company away from its Cupertino, CA hub?
Time will tell.