Apple has a secret in Washington County. They've hired close to two-dozen people in a hardware engineering lab there, raiding Intel and other Oregon tech employers for a variety of roles, according to job postings, social media profiles and an individual familiar with Apple's recruiting efforts.

Apple's Oregon job postings seeks design verification expertise, a specialty for ensuring a finished product meets the original specifications. LinkedIn profiles indicate Apple has been hiring for its Washington County site since November and that a number of its new employees previously held senior research or engineering roles at Intel.

It's currently unclear how many people Apple plans to hire for the Oregon facility, what products they're working on, or the office's exact location.

Apple is among several large tech companies with substantial outposts in Oregon, capitalizing on the region's concentration of high-tech skills and a less-competitive hiring market. Others include eBay, Amazon, Google, Salesforce and, of course, Intel, which has its biggest site in Washington County.

The report fuels the rumor that Apple plans to use its own chips in Macs from 2020, replacing Intel.

Source: The Oregonian

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