Video source: YouTube, NBC Bay Area
Alphabet Inc’s (Nasdaq: GOOGL ) Google LLC plans to set aside a significant amount of space to its hardware unit at a soon-to-be-developed office campus in Silicon Valley, a sign that the tech giant is getting more serious about its gadget business.
According to CNBC, the search giant is seeking approval from San Jose, California, to redevelop five buildings in the city into a pedestrian-friendly tech campus to house offices as well as a new hub for hardware.
Dubbed "Midpoint," the property’s office buildings will be connected by a pedestrian bridge to three industrial facilities that will be devoted to research, development, manufacturing, storage and distribution of hardware.
Google has not given a timeline for when it expects Midpoint to be completed, but the plans do not involve constructing any new buildings or demolishing existing ones.
Since planning began in 2018, Google has spent more than $389 million buying up land in San Jose for the project.
The future campus is located between Google’s current headquarters in Mountain View and its recently approved massive mixed-use campus in downtown San Jose.
When compared to its core internet services, like Google Cloud and YouTube, the tech giant’s hardware unit — which includes Nest, Google Home smart speakers, PixelBook laptops and Pixel smartphones — has produced minimal revenue to date, CNBC noted.
The move to develop a hardware hub follows remarks recent remarks from Google’s senior vice president of devices and services, Rick Osterloh, that the company wants to grab more market share this year.
To this end, Google has made several hardware-related investments recently.
In January, it completed the acquisition of fitness tracking hardware company Fitbit for $2.1 billion, and, earlier this week, Google announced it will ditch Qualcomm chips to create its own, including those used for its Pixel phones and computers.
Google also has been using its own chips for its growing number of data centers across the country.
_____
Source: Equities News
Read Next
