Apple building $45-mn research facility in Beijing: Report

Apple is building a $45-million research facility in Beijing, according to The Wall Street Journal, which focused on the creation of new hardware.

The facility, which will be the company's first Chinese research centre, will employ 500 people to develop computer hardware, communications, audio, and visual equipment, according to a post on social media by the Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Committee, which outlined Apple's Chinese expansion plans that CEO Tim Cook first detailed last month.

Tim Cook promised additional investment in China during a visit to the country in August, and pledged to open such a research and development facility in the country in 2016.

Apple declined to comment about the planned facility, which, according to reports would be placed in a new science park in Beijing's Wangjing district, The Wall Street Journal reported. It would be the latest in a string of investments the company had made in the country in an effort to prop up sliding sales, including $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing app seen as China's Uber.

China had been not only a manufacturing base but also an important market for the sale of Apple devices, though the going had been rough for the company in recent times.

But China had been instrumental in the company's growth for years.

Apple saw its China-based revenue soar as the booming Chinese middle class lapped up Apple products including iPhones and iPads.

However, as time went by Apple's devices had proven less popular in China and consumers increasingly turned to local companies.

China revenues had plummeted in recent quarters, and were down 33 per cent year-over-year in Apple's last-reported period.