Apple is on a research & development spree! The company has announced a bunch of new R&D centers over the past few months, and R&D spendings have skyrocketed. This time, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company plans to open a new center in Japan during a visit in Tokyo, according to Xinhua.

This isn’t the first time we’re hearing about a new R&D center in Japan. Previous reports have indicated that Apple was building a new R&D center for 2016 or 2017.

Cook met with Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe to discuss all things Apple and Japan. Later at a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reported that Apple would complete its R&D center in December.

So what is this R&D center anyway? Located in Yokohama, the building used to be a Panasonic factory. Apple has taken over the building and transformed it into an R&D center.

This way, Apple can more easily hire talented Japanese engineers. It’s unclear what the Japanese team is going to work on.

Overall, in addition to existing R&D centers, Apple will soon have R&D centers in Shenzhen, Israel, the U.K., France, Japan and Sweden. Maybe it’s time to rethink Apple’s tagline on all of its products — “designed by Apple in Cupertino and many other countries.”

Via Apple Insider

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