Applied Materials Buys More Offices in Sunnyvale

Applied Materials continues to grow its presence in the South Bay with the acquisition of another office building.

The Santa Clara-based semiconductor manufacturer spent $25.1 million for an office and research building at 999 East Arques Avenue in Sunnyvale, The Mercury News reported. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company sold the property totaling 79,800 square feet.

Applied Materials has largely been snapping up older commercial or industrial buildings in the Sunnyvale area over the past decade, spending more than $421.5 million on property since 2018.

The shopping spree started that year when it bought 928 East Arques Avenue for $41.4 million. Subsequent deals over the next few years included more than $100 million for 1050-1090 East Arques Avenue and two buildings last year at 929-935 East Arques Avenue and 306-310 De Guigne Road for $32.7 million. In October 2024, the company paid $100 million for a vacant Fry’s Electronics store at 1077 East Arques Avenue.

The 999 East Arques building could be part of a new tech complex the company is planning known as the Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization Center.

Slated to begin operations in 2026, the Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization Center will include a $4 billion investment by the company and will be able to accommodate about 2,000 engineering jobs. The company hopes it will become the hub for more than $25 billion in Applied Materials research and development projects over the center’s first decade of operations, The Mercury News reported.

“This investment presents a golden opportunity to re-engineer the way the global industry collaborates to deliver the foundational semiconductor process and manufacturing technologies needed to sustain rapid improvements in energy-efficient, high-performance computing,” Gary Dickerson, CEO of Applied Materials, said in a 2023 statement after the announcement about the complex.

Elsewhere in Sunnyvale, Apple is similarly buying up buildings as part of its South Bay expansion plans. Last month, the Cupertino-based tech giant bought a 380,039-square-foot office complex at Mathilda Commons, a two-building office park at 615 and 625 Mathilda Avenue, for $350 million, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

— Chris Malone Méndez