Samsung breaks ground on new campus, launches start-up accelerator

Last week was a big one for Samsung’s Silicon Valley invasion plan.

On Wednesday, Samsung broke ground on its new Silicon Valley headquarters for its U.S. semiconductor business. A group of Samsung execs and San Jose city officials gathered on a ceremonial stage in north San Jose armed with shovels to give the project its symbolic start.

The building will be 680,000 square feet and eventually house R&D; operations and sales offices for 600 employees. The current buildings that Samsung occupies on the site will be torn down and the 300 or so employees there now will be temporarily relocated until the new facility opens in 2015.

Story: Silicon Valley is having an architectural breakthrough

The new building sports a striking design that promises to make it Silicon Valley landmark.

Samsung’s main building will have 10 stories -- actually a series of two-story buildings stacked on top of each other. The floors in between, where the building appears to narrow, are actually open green spaces without walls, essentially parks located between the office floors.

The building is designed to be green and lush, both from an environmental standpoint and in terms of giving employees a feeling they are connected to the outdoors at all times.

The next evening, Samsung officials gathered to officially launch their new start-up accelerator, located in downtown Palo Alto in the former Varsity movie theater. The focus of the accelerator will be start-ups that are working with content, mobile services or other types of apps.

It’s all part of a grand plan by Samsung to burrow ever more deeply into Silicon Valley, to tap into the region’s innovation culture and to woo developers who are essential to make the apps for smartphones and tablets.

The accelerator is attached to a new Open Innovation Center in Mountain View, Calif., that focuses on mobile applications. The company has a second Open Innovation Center in Menlo Park, Calif., that works on hardware and components. Throw in the new semiconductor campus, and plans to increase venture capital investing in the region, and it’s going to be hard to go anywhere and not trip over someone from Samsung.

Here’s a peek inside the new accelerator:

ALSO:

Samsung reveals details of Silicon Valley innovation center

Samsung embarking on an aggressive expansion in Silicon Valley

Samsung campus latest sign of life in Silicon Valley’s architectural wasteland