Apple Computer is planning to build a new, 50-acre campus near its present headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., company Chief Executive Steve Jobs said.
"What's happened at Apple is that our business has basically tripled in the last five or six years," Jobs said on Tuesday evening at a Cupertino city council meeting, which was recorded and viewable as an archived Webcast.
He said the company "has gone from $6 billion in sales to $20 billion in sales, basically." Analysts expect Apple to post $20.3 billion in revenue for its fiscal 2006 ending in September, according to Reuters Estimates.
Jobs said it would likely take three to four years to design and build the campus that could accommodate 3,000 to 3,500 employees.
An Apple representative, who was present at the meeting, confirmed the company's plans to build the second campus.
"We're pretty thrilled," Jobs told the city council members. "Since we're your largest taxpayer, I thought you might be happy for us."
Apple has been rejuvenated since it introduced its market-leading iPod digital music player in 2001 and is in the process of moving its entire Macintosh computer line to Intel chips from those made by IBM.
Jobs said that, in addition to its current Cupertino headquarters, Apple employees are spread among 30 other buildings.
"We've rented every scrap of building we could find in Cupertino," Jobs said, who noted that Apple had recently purchased the nine separate, contiguous parcels.
Apple plans to raze the buildings now on the property and design and build new ones, Jobs said. The new campus will be about a mile away from its current headquarters.
Apple was famously started in Jobs' parents' garage in Silicon Valley by Jobs and co-founder Steve Wozniak 30 years ago this month.
Jobs said that about a year later, Apple relocated to Cupertino, where it has had its headquarters ever since.
"We'll probably get larger still," Jobs said, referring to the company's overall business and work force.
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