Austin, Texas
The Greater Austin metropolitan statistical area had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $86 billion in 2010. Austin is considered to be a major center for high tech. Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense industry sectors. The region's rapid growth has led "Forbes" to rank the Austin metropolitan area number one among all big cities for jobs for 2012 in their annual survey and WSJ Marketwatch to rank the area number one for growing businesses. By 2013, Austin was ranked No. 14 on "Forbes"' list of the Best Places for Business and Careers (directly below Dallas, No. 13 on the list). As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. Austin's largest employers include the Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Dell, the U.S. Federal Government, NXP Semiconductors, IBM, St. David's Healthcare Partnership, Seton Family of Hospitals, the State of Texas, the Texas State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Apple Inc.
Apple has a satellite campus in neighboring Sunnyvale, California, where it houses a testing and research laboratory. AppleInsider published article in March 2014 claiming that Apple has a tucked away a top-secret facility where is developing the SG5 electric vehicle project codenamed "Titan" under the shell company name SixtyEight Research.
In 2006, Apple announced its intention to build a second campus in Cupertino about east of the current campus and next to Interstate 280. The new campus building has been designed by Norman Foster. The Cupertino City Council approved the proposed "spaceship" design campus on October 15, 2013, after a 2011 presentation by Jobs detailing the architectural design of the new building and its environs. The new campus is planned to house up to 13,000 employees in one central, four-storied, circular building surrounded by extensive landscape. It will feature a café with room for 3,000 sitting people and parking underground as well as in a parking structure. The 2.8million square foot facility will also include Jobs's original designs for a fitness center and a corporate auditorium.
Apple has expanded its campuses in Austin, Texas concurrently with building Apple Park in Cupertino. The expansion consists of two locations, with one having 1.1million square feet of workspace, and the other 216,000 square feet. Apple will invest $1 billion to build the North Austin campus. At the biggest location, 6,000 employees work on technical support, manage Apple's network of suppliers to fulfill product shipments, aid in maintaining iTunes Store and App Store, handle economy, and continuously update Apple Maps with new data. At its smaller campus, 500 engineers work on next-generation processor chips to run in future Apple products.