Apple to open 1,000-employee operation in Culver City, other parts of US

CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- Apple has announced plans to open a new office in Culver City, which is expected to create 1,000 new jobs.

It's an empty lot on the corner of Washington and National boulevards, but the work is underway for Apple to move in. It's good news to the Culver City Chamber of Commerce.

"It's not just the amount of jobs, it's the type of jobs, you know, what it'll do to the local economy as far as those employees who are going to need services throughout the day and after work," said Colin Diaz of the Chamber of Commerce.

The jobs will be a mix of technology in digital music and video programming, two areas where Apple is expanding to compete with Spotify and Netflix.

The company plans to spend $1 billion this year on original content.

Apple's main headquarters is in Cupertino, but new facilities are going up all over the country.

In a statement Apple's CEO Tim Cook said, "Talent, creativity and tomorrow's breakthrough ideas aren't limited by region or zip code, and, with this new expansion, we're redoubling our commitment to cultivating the high-tech sector and workforce nationwide."

The tech giant plans to open offices in San Diego and Seattle as well, but the biggest Apple expansion site will be in Austin, Texas. The Texas operation will be a $1 billion campus that would nearly double the size of the company's current 6,000-employee work force in the area.

The Culver City location is right next to a Metro station, and there is a mix of restaurants and apartments nearby. Still, some residents said they are concerned about affordable housing costs and traffic.

"There's a lot of development around and that is addressing housing. Workforce housing is something that is always something to look at, and I think it will also influence future development," Diaz said.

There's no word yet on when the new sites will open or when Apple will start hiring for those new jobs, but the company said it expects to create 20,000 new jobs in the U.S. by the year 2023.

Apple said it also plans to add hundreds of workers in offices in New York, Pittsburgh and Boulder, Colorado, over the next three years.

"They are just picking America's most established superstar cities and tech hubs," said Richard Florida, an urban development expert at the University of Toronto.

Apple's scattershot expansion reflects the increasing competition for engineers in Silicon Valley, which has long been the high-tech capital in U.S.

The bidding for programmers is driving salaries ever higher, which in turn is catapulting the average prices of homes in many part of the San Francisco Bay Area above $1 million, causing many workers with computer coding skills to live in less expensive places with less traffic congestion.

That, in turn, is causing more tech companies like Apple, Amazon and Google to set up shop outside Silicon Valley to hire the talent to pursue their ambitions to expand into new products and fields of opportunity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.